"Thanks for the Nightmares!" A Deep Dive into Technology Crime

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"Thanks for the Nightmares!" A Deep Dive into Technology Crime

In a session that had many virtual attendees joking about having nightmares tonight, going completely off the grid and hiding under blankets, Walt Manning, CEO of Techno-Crime Institute, told a story about darknet, cryptocurrency, encrypted messaging apps, burner phones, ransomware and more at the 33rd Annual ACFE Global Fraud Conference.

In his session, "You're in Charge: Are You Ready for a Techno-Crime Challenge," Manning discussed the above and offered this piece of advice: "This is not the fraud of the future - this is the fraud of right now. And if you're not prepared, you need to be prepared because it's already happening."

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Lessons From the “Original Internet Godfather”

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Lessons From the “Original Internet Godfather”

Known as the “Original Internet Godfather” for his exploits as one of the first cybercriminals, Brett Johnson’s life reads like a Hollywood film script, and his story of crime serves as a lesson for fraudsters and the law enforcement officials who hunt them down.

After being placed on the United States Most Wanted List, captured and convicted of 39 felonies, he escaped prison. Captured again, Johnson served his time and accepted responsibility. He now advises the FBI and corporate America about how to understand a virtual underworld that he helped create.

“Those 39 felonies had to do with refining a lot of the different online financial crimes we see today, from account takeovers, credit card fraud, phishing schemes and tax return identity theft,” he told John Gill, J.D., CFE, ACFE vice president – education, at the closing session of the ACFE Global Fraud Conference.

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Cybercrime in the Age of COVID-19

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Cybercrime in the Age of COVID-19

“COVID was a golden era for people wanting to commit cyber fraud [and] cyber threats,” Robert Herjavec told attendees at the 32nd Annual ACFE Global Fraud Conference. As he addressed the virtual audience while sitting in his Toronto home, he looked back on a year that saw the coronavirus upend people’s lives and open opportunities for fraudsters like never before.

Herjavec may be best known as one of the judges on “Shark Tank,” the Emmy award-winning TV show about aspiring entrepreneurs that is now heading into its 13th season. But he also has a day job as Founder and CEO of Herjavec Group — one of the world’s most innovative cybersecurity firms that he founded in 2003.

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The Cyber Sickness No One Wants ... Ransomware

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The Cyber Sickness No One Wants ... Ransomware

Between 2009 and 2010, Iran’s nuclear program was the target of a devastating cyber attack. A virus took control of centrifuge controls in facilities across the country, causing thousands of machines to break. The hackers weren’t satisfied yet, though. To add insult to injury, they reportedly hijacked the facilities' workstations and used them to play AC/DC … loudly.

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Criminals Use Cryptocurrencies to Launder, Extort and Steal Money

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Criminals Use Cryptocurrencies to Launder, Extort and Steal Money

Cryptocurrencies are no longer new nor nascent, but they are still a popular vehicle by which criminals use to extort, launder and steal money. “I remember when ransomware started, they [criminals] used PayPal,” said Costel Ion, CFE, director - principal investigator at Deutsche Bank in his virtual session at the 2020 ACFE Fraud Conference Europe. “Now ransomware criminals are using many forms of cryptocurrencies.”

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National Security and Corporate Risk Expert Says “We’re Not Winning” the War Against Digital Threats

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National Security and Corporate Risk Expert Says “We’re Not Winning” the War Against Digital Threats

Large-scale data breaches are now regular fixtures in the headlines, and as cybercriminals become more sophisticated, corporations and governments are rushing to keep up. “In almost four decades of security work, I have never witnessed a threat environment that has this type of volume, velocity and variety,” security expert Ray Boisvert told the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE). “The myriad of threat actors, now spanning an entire globe with increasingly sharp capabilities to strike remotely, has now completely redefined for us what security parameters look like.” 

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Work with Human Behavior to Avoid Breaches and Cybercrime, Says Cybersecurity Expert

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Work with Human Behavior to Avoid Breaches and Cybercrime, Says Cybersecurity Expert

Organizations continue to operate under a cybercrime misconception about their customers, and it’s costing them a lot of money, said cybersecurity expert Theresa Payton, the Monday luncheon keynote speaker. “The conventional wisdom [in cybercrime and fraud] is that ‘humans are the weakest link … That’s why we have security problems.’ I want to change that conversation now.

“I used to feel that way when I was in the financial services industry,” she said. “I’d say, ‘I wish we could just train our customers on the little bit of what I know. My job would be safer and easier to do, and we’d all be happier.’ We’ve been talking this way for decades. We keep asking ourselves, ‘Why do people click on links? Why do people open attachments? … Why do people make these mistakes?’

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