Our 2018 data breach analytics revealed a trend which shows hackers have become aggressive using a technique called Threading. Publicized breaches of LinkedIn, Equifax, & Marriott, allow hackers to steal credentials including email addresses, usernames, & passwords. Hacker are using the leaked credentials and plug them into various banking sites, email hosts, cloud storage & other online domains. In 2019, hackers have become polymorphic & adapted to a style of Threading which integrates themselves into your conversations & more importantly wait patiently for a pending wire before taking collusive actions. Once they gain access into your email account as an example, hackers analyze your data & make themselves capable of injecting themselves into conversations & direct responses. The hacker then sets up mail forwarding, creates rules related to terms such as wire transfer & assumes your online identity without taking over the account. In reality, the real user is still continuing normal email communications but the ones which involve financial transactions are received but never seen.
As we transition to dedicated Cloud data storage the reliance of hosted providers to offer flexibility in alerting and security is needed. Using your mobile device to receive login codes for MFA must be mandatory & even though the security feature has been exploited on platforms such as Outlook Web & Office 365, not implementing this simple security feature leaves your cloud door wide open.
