21st February 2017

Cybercrime in Switzerland: IT Experts for Perpetrator Investigation and Crime Prevention

Hacker Attacks on Critical Hospital Data

The outrage in Switzerland and neighbouring countries is substantial: Hackers have repeatedly extorted Swiss hospitals by threatening to attack their servers and encrypt life-critical hospital data unless a considerable "ransom" is paid. A ruthless and simultaneously highly lucrative attack, given that hospitals deal with matters of life and death. The perpetrators deliberately jeopardise the health of innocent and uninvolved people to force a rapid payment. Their cyberattacks manifest in the encryption of patient records and other hospital documentation and can, in the worst case, halt hospital operations for several hours or even days, which could be fatal for risk and intensive care patients. Kurtz Investigations Switzerland can, with its detectives and IT experts, investigate such cases at an early stage to identify those responsible and bring them to justice.

 

Unfortunately, it is not precisely known how many hospitals across Switzerland are affected, as only a few hacker attacks are reported; the hospitals concerned fear reputational damage from publication and attracting copycat criminals. In the Tages-Anzeiger, the head of a security agency warned of the cunning of the perpetrators, who appear to be professionals in their field and are not merely playing pranks; for example, a clinic in Los Angeles (USA) could do nothing against an extremely dangerous virus other than pay the requested 17,000 dollars to decrypt the hacked data. Our IT specialists in Switzerland investigate, on the one hand, the identities of perpetrators in cases of damage or concrete threats and, on the other hand, develop and implement individual IT security concepts for effective prevention: +41 44 5522 264.

DNA; IT-Experte Schweiz, IT-Service Basel, IT-Spezialist Schweiz, IT-Forensik Zürich, IT-Sicherheit Schweiz

Patient data, in particular, is naturally of paramount importance and therefore requires maximum protection. Accordingly, the unscrupulous hacker attacks on Swiss hospitals are profoundly shocking.

No Company is Immune to Cybercrime

Companies of all sizes are, just like hospitals, constantly threatened by attacks from the internet. As soon as even a single cybercriminal devises a profitable plan for extortion or theft of sensitive data, their efforts can severely damage the affected business. If an attack occurred some time ago and is only discovered afterwards, it is often very difficult to identify the perpetrators and bring them to justice, as although traces are left during the attacks, they can usually no longer be traced back to the culprit after a long period has passed. In cases of extortion, especially in hospitals, swift action is required to avoid endangering patient care, leaving very little room for manoeuvre. Early deployment of security experts can prevent the worst outcomes.

 

If our Zürich detective agency is engaged early to proactively identify and close security gaps, hackers can often be pre-empted and thwarted. This applies equally to innovative start-ups and long-established businesses, as all kinds of inventions, patents, and other protectable data are of potential interest to competitors and cybercriminals. Thus, the entire Swiss corporate landscape is threatened by cybercrime. One can only imagine the reputational damage the Swiss banking sector would suffer if the servers and data of one of its many renowned banks fell into the hands of hackers.

Diverse Motives of Cybercriminals

Internet attacks can occur for various reasons:

 

  • If a large company is politically or ethically polarising, attacks may be motivated by ideology and aim to harm the company as much as possible.
  • In hacks connected to extortion, the attacks are carried out to gain personal financial advantage.
  • The most common reason for IT attacks remains corporate espionage: data and plans of successful companies are spied on to give the attacker’s own business an illegal competitive advantage, to plagiarise products, or to sell information to the highest bidder.

 

Our economic detectives in Switzerland have frequently encountered the latter scenario when engaged to investigate server attacks and identify perpetrators.

Intentional or Negligent – Employees as Perpetrators in Focus

It is a sad reality that not all cyberattacks are committed by outsiders or competitors. Job dissatisfaction, financial pressure, and other factors often drive previously loyal employees to illegally disclose information for personal gain. Not only intent, but negligence is also a significant factor – for example, employees who naïvely share access credentials and passwords when prompted by a phishing email. Staff fall into more or less sophisticated traps set by professional fraudsters who imitate the layout and language style of major companies (e.g., PayPal, eBay, Amazon) to trick inattentive or naive employees into visiting infected websites and/or sending passwords to the alleged customer service. Cybercriminals may thereby gain quick access to servers, company accounts, and cloud services without much effort.

 

Our Swiss economic detectives therefore always advise their clients, in cases of unwanted data leaks, to critically review their security concepts and address potential weaknesses. Furthermore, employees must be regularly trained in handling sensitive data and informed about the consequences of breaching confidentiality, disclosing secrets, or aiding espionage. Awareness of irregularities from all employees, from apprentices to senior management, also helps identify security leaks or unauthorised access to servers and data. This can place initial obstacles in the path of attackers, although it alone does not guarantee complete security. Our Zürich-based economic detective agency analyses your company’s IT structure on your behalf, implements structural improvements, and investigates the perpetrators of past incidents by tracing their digital footprints: kontakt@kurtz-detektei-schweiz.ch.

Is Your Company at Risk? Swiss Private Detectives Take Immediate Action

Are you concerned that cybercriminals may be interested in your company and its unique innovations and data? Do you fear the unauthorised disclosure of sensitive information from within your organisation? Have you already been the victim of a hacker attack and want the perpetrators identified? In these and many other cases, our IT experts in Switzerland are available. Whether you wish to prevent incidents by developing a personalised security concept or trace the perpetrators after a cyberattack to bring them swiftly to justice and prevent further damage – our Swiss detective agency can help. Contact our staff free of charge for consultation and assignment: +41 44 5522 264.

Author: Maya Grünschloss, PhD

 

Kurtz Investigations Zürich and Switzerland

Max-Högger-Strasse 6

8048 Zürich

Tel.: +41 (0)44 5522 264

E-Mail: kontakt@kurtz-detektei-schweiz.ch

Web: https://www.kurtz-detektei-schweiz.ch/en

Google: https://g.page/kurtz-detektei-zuerich-schweiz

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