The Expert Podcast

So how are hackers and cybercriminals getting into these large companies, and how big of a problem is it? You may be surprised to know that how they're getting in is a very small factor, but how big the problem is is huge.

Physical access systems are one way hackers get in. Any company has some type of key card access. You see this little picture here by the door; sometimes it's a time card, sometimes it's a gate to get into the property or a parking garage gate. All of these devices are hooked up to your company's network.

Your company's network has all these devices, so what happens is that a hacker can easily get into this device. It doesn't have a lot of security; it doesn't have all the layers of passwords like your server does or your cloud system does. It's a very basic device, and hackers can get in through the network.

Once they get in here, they can gradually chip away at the different layers and get into your main system. It's called a man-in-the-middle attack, meaning that they get into this middleman, and then they get into the rest of your system. It can enable ransomware, data theft, and more, which could be a big deal.

How big of a deal? Well, according to industry experts, a cybersecurity revolution is touching every corner of the economy. You even see a picture here of the Secretary of Treasury, Janet Yellen, and the SEC chair, Gary Gensler, talking about cybersecurity. That's how big of a deal it is at the highest levels of government. They're worrying about it, and they're trying to do everything they can to slow it down.

And the private sector cyber warriors are looking to prevent it. So, if you're a cyber security company or a cyber insurance company, you're looking at China and Russia quietly attacking the US through proxies. Are they making a dent? Well, they caught some people—3,500 people arrested, 300 million—and that's just the tip of the iceberg. So that tells you how big of a problem it is.

So, if you're a medium, small, or even large company, make sure you have good cybersecurity tools in place, both internal and external. Make sure you have cyber liability insurance, that you have active monitoring, not just internal but external, and that you have a response team and a response protocol.

You're probably not going to have all the expertise in-house to do this, so you may have to reach out to a cybersecurity company or at least have your inside staff, if you're a large company, be trained in the day-to-day emerging and evolving cybersecurity risks so you're not left in the cold where these hackers come up with new tools every week, and unless you're on top of it, you may be totally prepared for what the problems are today, but tomorrow there might be a new attack that can get through your defenses.