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Disorganized cyber crime doesn’t exist - Organized criminal enterprises are an advanced,
persistent and very real threat. They are supported by integrated criminal supply chains, are
highly creative and exploit the fact that their victims’ networks are far flung and porous.

According to reports from RAND, the world of hacking has become more organized and reliable
in the last 15 years and 80% of hackers work with organized crime groups. Today, known
security flaws spread like wildfire, as criminals gain insights on the most effective attack
methods from each other.

IT professionals and teams that are able to effectively communicate risk with leaders in an
organization will be better positioned to mitigate those risks. This means stronger preparation
against advanced threats and quicker mitigation once a thief has breached a company’s
security. It also means revisiting known flaws. A report from Verizon shows that a significant
majority of successful hacking efforts were perpetrated using vulnerabilities that have been
around since 2002.

Deflecting cyber criminals is no easy task. Organizations must have successful collaboration
among their Board of Directors, CISOs and their IT teams. They must respond expeditiously to
known vulnerabilities, and assess that they have the proper resources to agilely address a cyber
attack. They must effectively plan to mitigate damage in the event of a hack. Companies that
are able to incorporate these initiatives will ultimately be the winners against cyber crime.

About the Author
Jim Anderson, President of the Americas region, BAE Systems Applied Intelligence, brings over
25 years of experience of sales and consulting with organizations in the high tech industry. Most
recently, he served as Global Sales Director, Unified Computing at Cisco, Inc. Prior to that, Jim
was with Dell, Inc. where he served as VP, Server and Storage Sales for the Public Sector.
Before his tenure at Dell, he served in various leadership roles at Hewlett-Packard for 14 years.
Anderson holds a bachelor of science in electrical engineering and computer science from
Princeton University and an MBA with a concentration in marketing from the Wharton School,
University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA.

6 Cyber Warnings E-Magazine – May 2015 Edition
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