Insurance Companies Once Again Drive Cybercrime

Headlines

Financials Sector

For the March 2015 Period

Copyright
2015SurfWatchLabs,Inc.Allrightsreserved

Cyber Risk Landscape in Financials - March 2015

InMarch2015theFinancialssectorsawaboveaveragecyberrisk,withanoverallSurfWatchLabsriskscorethatwas9%
higherthanthesectorssixmonthaverage.

ThatcontinuesthetrendofFinancialshaving
aboveaverageriskeverymonthsofarin2015.

Februarysawthemassivebreachathealthinsurer
Anthemdrivingmuchofthecybercrimediscussion,
andMarchsawanotherroundofhealthinsurance
breachesgettingwidespreadheadlines.The11million
peoplewhohadtheirinformationexposedatPremera
BlueCrosswasthemostdiscussedcyberrelated
incidentacrossallsectors,appearinginnearly11%of
allthenegativeCyberFactscollectedbySurfWatch
Labslastmonth.

WhenlookingatthenegativecyberdiscussionjustintheFinancialssector,thePremeraBlueCrossbreachdominatedthe
headlines,appearinginnearly62%ofthesectorsCyberFactscollectedbySurfWatchLabs.

Clearly,recentmonthshavebeendrivenlargelybymajor,highprofilebreaches.

Overall,Financialswasthesecondmostdiscussedindustrysectorinregardstocybercrime,getting18%ofthediscussion
behindonlyInformationTechnology.Forcomparison,inthefewmonthsbeforethelargeinsurancebreachesmadewaves
thesectoronlyreceivedbetween2%and7%ofthediscussion.

TheAnthembreach,thougholder,isstillgeneratingasignificantamountofattentionandwasthesecondmostdiscussed
cybercrimetargetofthemonth,appearingin13%ofthesectorsCyberFacts.

Beingperhapsthemosthighprofilebreachoftheyear,itwillbeinterestingtowatchhowthatdiscussioncontinuesandifany
potentiallongtermbranddamagewillresult.

Lookingattheindustrygroupbreakdown,onceagain,insuranceisdominanthowever,therewerealsosignificant
discussionsaroundvirtualcurrencylikebitcoinandbanking,whichfacedvariousphishinganddefacementattacksinMarch.

Copyright
2015SurfWatchLabs,Inc.Allrightsreserved

Copyright
2015SurfWatchLabs,Inc.Allrightsreserved

Financials Overview
TheFinancialssectorreceivedagradeofD+forthemonth,indicatingthatthesectorsawanincreasedlevelofcyberrisk
forthemonthwhencomparedtoitssixmonthaverage.
SocialActivity
hadalargeincreasemidmonthlikelyduetothe
insuranceproviderdatabreaches.
IncidentVolume
alsoincreasedslightlyinMarch.Therestofthescoresremainedsteady
throughoutthemonth.

Whenitcametomacroleveltargets,
Data
(62.6%)wasbyfarthetoptrendingtarget.
PrivateNetworks
and
Cloud
Service/Applications
cameinsecondandthird,respectively.

FinancialInformationStolen/Leaked
sawthebiggestriseofanyeffectinMarch,becomingthethirdmostprominenteffectfor
themonthbehind
DataStolen/Leaked
and
PersonalInformationStolen/Leaked
.Again,muchofthemonthsdatawasdriven
bythevariousinsurancebreaches.

Whenlookingatthebreakdownofspecifictags(below),
virtualcurrencyminingpool
isthenumbertwotargetforthemonth
and
distributeddenialofservice
isthenumbertwopractice.AgroupofbitcoinminingpoolsweretargetedwithDDoSattacks
inMarch,withseveralreportingthatransompaymentsweredemandedinordertostoptheattacks.

Copyright
2015SurfWatchLabs,Inc.Allrightsreserved

Activity and Events of Note

Severalnotableeventsoccurredduringthemonthincluding:

PremeraBlueCross:
Theinsuranceprovider
sufferedamassivedatabreach
affecting11millionpeoplespersonal
information.AccordingtoPremera,theincidentaffectedPremeraBlueCross,PremeraBlueCrossBlueShieldof
Alaska,anditsaffiliatebrandsVivacityandConnexionInsuranceSolutions.Additionally,BlueCrossBlueShield
planmemberswhosoughttreatmentinWashingtonorAlaskamayalsobeaffected,aswellasmembersofLifewise,
anaffiliateofPremera.
AnthemInc.:
Anthemwasthefirstmassivedatabreach
atamajorinsuranceproviderthisyear.Thedamageisstill
beinginvestigatedandcontinuestospreadwith80millionpeopleaffected.
HighmarkInc.:
ThePittsburgGazettereported
that
morethan51,000currentHighmarkhealthinsurancecustomers
inPennsylvaniawillreceivelettersnotifyingthemthattheirpersonalinformationmayhavebeenstolenaspartofthe
largerAnthemdataheist.
NiceHash.com,GHash.IO,ShenzhenBiwangElectronicCo.,andCKPool:
Alargegroupofbitcoinminingpools
weretargeted
withaDDoSattack.ThewaveofattacksonnumerouspoolsstartedthefirstweekofMarchand
continuedthroughmidMarch.Bitcoinpaymentwasdemandedtostoptheattack.
SouthwestMontanaFederalCreditUnion:

Agroupofwebsiteswerehacked
bysomeoneclaimingtobeaffiliated
byISIS.BothU.S.andEuropeansitesweredefacedortakendown.
BankofAmericaCorp.:
Aphishingscam
,perpetratedbyemailandfakesocialmediasites,targetedBankof
AmericacustomersinlateMarch.

Financials Conclusions, Trends and Predictions

Insuranceisthenewhack
RecentbreachesatPremeraBlueCross,Anthemandotherinsurancecompaniesarenota
coincidence.Insuranceprovidersholdalotofdata,anditmaybeeasiergainaccesstothatdatathroughinsurance
companiesthanothergroupsthatarepotentiallymorehardenedlikebanking.Whilemonetarytargetswillalwaysbe
important,hackerswillcontinuetotargetthesevaluabledatarichenvironmentsaslongastheycontinuetohavesuccess
doingso.Additionally,theeffectsofthesemassivebreachescontinuetoplayoutaftertheinitialheadlines.Manybusinesses
arecommunicatingwithemployeesabouttheinsurancebreaches,andcybercriminalsoftenusethesemajoreventsasa
springboardforphishingattemptsandotherattemptstocausefurtherdamage.

Bitcoinstilltakinghits
Marchwasyetanothermonthofcybercrimerelatedtobitcoin.Thereweresomegoodthings
happeninglikeIBMssearchforawaytobolsterthecybercurrency.Outweighingthosepositiveoccurrenceswerenumerous
hackingsofbitcoinmarketsaswellasthearrestoffederalofficialsfortheftofthecurrency.Thestockmarketisevengetting
involvedwithbitcoinnow,andwhilethatmaylookgoodontheoutside,itmightnotbeenoughtokeepthecurrencyafloatifit
continuestobeeasilystolen.

Copyright
2015SurfWatchLabs,Inc.Allrightsreserved