![\"cyber1\"](\"https:\/\/cm-edgetun.pages.dev\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/cyber1.jpg\")
<\/p>\nWhile the digitization of our world has transformed our lives for the better in more ways than we could ever have imagined, there\u2019s no doubt that it has a dark side. Across the globe, cybercriminals are making increasingly more sophisticated attacks, affecting nearly 400 million people, and costing consumers US$113 billion every year, according to the latest research from security firm Symantec.<\/p>\n
For retail financial services firms in particular, this threat presents a huge challenge. Take the recent cyberrobbery by the Carbanak criminal gang, for example. Stealing up to one billion dollars over a two-year period from more than 100 banks worldwide, the cybercriminals were among the first malicious users to steal money directly from financial institutions, rather than targeting customers.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s not to say that end users are no longer being exploited; quite the opposite in fact. Between mid-2014 and early 2015, three of the most active banking botnets (whereby networks made up of remote-controlled computers which have been infected with malware are used for malicious purposes) were brought down. Meanwhile, the Dyre financial Trojan (a type of malware designed to provide unauthorized, remote access to a user\u2019s computer) has emerged over the past year to become one of the most potent financial fraud tools in operation. Dyre is configured to defraud the customers of more than 1,000 banks and other companies worldwide.<\/p>\n
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Microsoft\u2019s Digital Crimes Unit combines big data analysis, cutting-edge forensics, partnerships and the law to keep customers safe from cybercrime<\/em><\/p>\n Against this backdrop, the Microsoft Digital Crimes Unit (DCU) is upping the ante against global cybercrime, taking legal action to clean up malware and help ensure customers stay safer online.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a fascinating area in which to work,\u201d says Richard Boscovich, a former attorney and Microsoft\u2019s assistant general counsel for the DCU. \u201cWe have observed significant changes over the years. Botnets continue to be the weapon of choice for crime-for-profit individuals, but the way malware is deployed to create botnets has changed dramatically. In the beginning, cybercriminals would take a shotgun approach. However, as we\u2019ve got better at bringing these criminals down and ripping out their infrastructures, they\u2019ve started to reduce the noise level in which they operate by being more specific in the way in which they target their efforts. They\u2019re much more geographically located too. Take ZeusS, Ice IX, Shylock and Ramnit, for example, which have targeted a specific country\u2019s financial vertical.\u201d<\/p>\n This type of activity creates a huge amount of concern for retail financial services firms, which need to assure their customers that it\u2019s safe to bank online. \u201cWe\u2019ve seen banks become increasingly aware of the threats over the past few years,\u201d Boscovich explains. \u201cAt Microsoft, we have a very open line of communication with many of the biggest banks to identify the specific threats that they\u2019re seeing and combine their intelligence with ours. This means that we can work alongside the industry to better identify, understand and take proactive measures against the threat. For example, since our action against the Citadel botnet \u2013 which was used in 2013 to steal more than US$500 million from bank accounts spread around the globe \u2013 we\u2019ve seen a 98% reduction in fraud using that malware.\u201d<\/p>\n The intelligence gathered from this work is also incorporated in Microsoft\u2019s cloud to ensure it can offer better security and greater protection for its customers. \u201cBanks are realizing that having a secure cloud infrastructure is a way to reduce potential risks,\u201d Boscovich says.<\/p>\n Microsoft\u2019s commitment to ensuring a safer environment for the retail financial services industry to work in doesn\u2019t stop here. The company is also investing heavily in regulation and control. \u201cWe work very closely with regulators to understand their concerns,\u201d explains Neal Suggs, Microsoft\u2019s vice president and associate general counsel for business, consumer and the public sector. \u201cThe information gained from this is then fed back to our engineering teams so that we can guarantee that every product we offer our customers will meet regulations.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are also committed to help shape the laws in this regard,\u201d Suggs continues. \u201cIf you think about our lawsuit with the US government [a US judge tried to force Microsoft to hand over e-mails sitting in the company\u2019s Irish data centre \u2013 Microsoft appealed the case on the grounds of data privacy], then it\u2019s clear to see that we take our responsibility to keep data safe seriously.\u201d<\/p>\n And the company\u2019s efforts in this regard are showing no signs of slowing down. \u201cWe\u2019re doubling our investment to make Azure the most compliant cloud a customer can use,\u201d Suggs says. \u201cIt meets international standards, including the privacy laws of over 140 jurisdictions to create a product that is inherently resilient.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re also really excited about the security in place around Windows 10,\u201d Boscovich adds. \u201cWe\u2019ve taken everything we\u2019ve learnt over the last few years to make this operating system our best yet. One of the amazing aspects of what we\u2019ve done is to look at how apps are compromised \u2013 Windows 10 now opens apps in a sandbox environment. We\u2019ve also enhanced security at all levels, from the default automatic updates to the integrated antivirus product. This gives our financial services customers the confidence they need that, right through the line, every part of the puzzle is totally secure.\u201d<\/p>\n As the number of cyberattacks aimed at retail financial services firms rises, Microsoft\u2019s Digital Crimes Unit is poised to ensure justice and help to create solutions that are inherently secure.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ms_queue_id":[],"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"_classifai_error":"","_classifai_text_to_speech_error":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1523],"post_tag":[],"content-type":[1483],"coauthors":[1619],"class_list":["post-1394","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-financial-services","content-type-thought-leadership"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"cyber2\"](\"https:\/\/cm-edgetun.pages.dev\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/cyber2.jpg\")
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