We’ve spent a lot of time (and will continue to) trying to impress upon the title industry the true threat that cybercrime presents to us. Even though many of us have seen, first-hand, the numerous failed or thwarted attempts—and the devastation of a successful attack—we still see firms that refuse to consistently use simple deterrents like Multi Factor Authentication.
We get it. The layers of security necessary to “harden” your systems as targets for cybercriminals can seem a bit inconvenient at times. If you haven’t witnessed or experienced a cyberattack first-hand, it can be easy to get a bit complacent or fall into an “it’ll never happen to me” perspective.
So don’t just take it from us. Take a look at the numbers, as provided by the 2022 SonicWall Cyber Threat Report. (Download required)
(Note that these numbers are worldwide and for 2021 only.)
5.3 trillion: Intrusion attempts.
5.4 billion: Malware attacks.
$1.8 billion: Total loss to Business Email Compromise attacks.
623.3 million: Ransomware attacks.
20,136: Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVEs) (potential entry points for cybercriminals)
80%: The number of CVEs that were also reported in previous years.
The report is well worth the read if you’re still not convinced that good password hygiene or MFA can make a major difference in preventing a successful cyberattack. And if you believe we’re exaggerating the threat when it comes to the title industry, the sheer volume of cybercrime happening daily should help reinforce the point that no one is truly immune. Now’s the time to revisit your cyber defenses if you haven’t recently, and implement robust and consistent practices so that your business doesn’t also become a number in reports like this.
