Cyberattacks on the Rise, Says KPMG Report

• Cyberattacks on the Rise, Says KPMG Report

KPMG Professional Services has alerted that business organisations to the growing trend of cyberattacks on computer networks.

The Head, Technology Advisory & Markets, KPMG, Joseph Tegbe, warned companies to avoid losing vital information and revenue by learning to create a secure cyber ecosystem.

Tegbe, who is also a partner at KPMG, said, “Our lives, economic vitality, national security, etc now revolve around technology. This dependence on technology comes with a whole new set of threats, risks and dangers to individuals, businesses and the society at large. Attacks on computer networks are on the rise; we need a safe, stable and resilient cyberspace.

“We have seen this as an emerging trend. Online scams on social media are being escalated at an organisational level. Do you know what it means to hack into the email of a managing director and start sending mails, which did not originate from the company to people?”

Another partner and Head of Risk Consulting in the company, Olumide Olayinka, said the digital space and its global use had exposed business organisations to different levels of risk.

According to him, organisations are being attacked and held to ransom by hackers who get access to crucial information and threaten to disclose or destroy such information.

In some instances, he explained that the perpetrators intercepted the network of an organisation and prevented business transactions, causing them to lose a lot of revenue.

He said, “Because all these systems are interconnected, some people can sit in their houses and take over a particular system of data of a client and they can either destroy or expose the information to the public. That is the kind of ransom we are seeing. Sometimes, they put something into a managing director’s laptop and with the push of a button, they can copy sensitive information from the laptop.

“There is also denial of service. Imagine if the system of a bank or telecoms company has been taken over by hackers, they can bring it down and people will be denied services, the bank will lose a lot of money as a result. Considering the amount of money telecoms companies generate hourly, if their system is down, they will lose money.”