Cyber Criminals Love a Lack of Communication

Robert Mueller (FBI Director), while addressing the 15th Annual RSA Conference San Jose, California called for greater cooperation between business sector and law enforcement to combat cyber crime throughout the world.

In his speech Director Mueller stated:

"Cyber space has been likened to the Wild West—an open and largely unprotected frontier with seemingly limitless opportunities. Like any new frontier, there will be those who seek to stake their claims, whether by legal or illegal means. And like the outlaws of the Wild West, the outlaws of this new world operate without boundaries and without barriers. They are moving as fast and as far as the technology will take them."

Recently, I've noted that the FBI is taking a very proactive approach to what I call "borderless crime." They have accomplished this by creating strategic partnerships within the law enforcement and business communities, as well as, reaching out to the public.

BUT what about the boundaries created in the business world, which is the frequent target of this criminal activity?

In the corporate world, sharing information with the competition isn't the way companies operate. In fact, they often do anything and everything to keep their information within the boundaries of the corporation.

The corporate world needs to break down their jurisdictional boundaries in the same manner law enforcement is. The criminal element is taking advantage of the lack of communication and simply moves on to the next corporate victim, who is unaware of the threat.

We could even take this down to the individual level. All too often, individuals, who see, or have become a victim of this activity, fail to report it. Their excuse is that nothing will be done about it, or they simply don't want to take the time.

In the past couple of years, we have made tremendous strides towards this (awareness sharing), but criminal activity keeps increasing and we need to keep breaking down the boundaries.

Cyber Criminals have long thrived on a lack of communication, which inspires the most effective tool against them, "awareness." Failing to report items, or keeping what happened secret does nothing, but further their cause.

Greater cooperation between law enforcement, the corporate world and the individual will only serve the common good for ALL.

You can report crime (electronically) to the FBI by clicking on the title of this post.