Increased access to the technical tools needed to launch cyberattacks, minimal risk of apprehension and lucrative payouts havecreated a perverse incentive for criminals to embrace crimes thatare cyber-enabled or cyber-dependent.

The nature of cyber crimes, the motivation behind them, thetargets and the actors are all evolving. The cyber underworld, oncedominated by mischievous computer experts, is now attractingfinancial criminals, hacktivist groups driven by distinct agendasand nation-states—all of which are targeting organizations of alltypes, small and large alike. The motivation for hacking has gonefrom exposing a target’s weaknesses to exposing or stealingsensitive data and disrupting critical business processes.

At significant cost to corporations and their customers,criminals are netting millions of dollars trading personallyidentifiable information stolen via data breaches or hacking intocorporate networks. Recent industries or sectors that have seen thegreatest increase in exposure and claims include healthcare,financial institutions, retail, IT service firms, social media,payroll processors and government agencies.