KLAS-TV Channel 8 News Las VegasComputer Security Experts Work to Fix Internet Security
It looks real, a message from your bank or credit union that appears to be legitimate. It's not.
Every day, computer users unknowingly turn over sensitive information to criminals out to steal your identity. It's called phishing and the problem can cost financial institutions nearly $3 billion a year.
Cyber experts are in Las Vegas this week to find a solution to this costly cyber crime. Criminals are keeping up with technology. They try to hack into computer systems belonging to banks and credit unions.
A conference this week has a unique approach to stopping the cyber sabotage.
"It's tremendously serious, especially for financial institutions," David Frankil, President of NAFCU Services Corp.
Criminals lurking in cyberspace get your information and take control. They have your email address, credit card number, ATM pin and they use it.
"If you know how to play offense, it's much easier to play defense more effectively," said Frankil.
Putting a halt on hacking is the objective of this week's National Association of Federal Credit Union's Technology and Security conference at Planet Hollywood.
"The key here is to become a hard target as opposed to a soft target," said Frankil.
These cyber experts work for and protect credit unions, but in this workshop they're assuming a different role -- as hackers.
Randy Romes with Larsonallen LLP showed just how serious the threat from hackers can be.
"We were able to acquire password files on particular servers and crack those passwords," he said.
His team was using software anyone can download online and what they did is alarming, "There were four servers up there. We comprised all four."
In just a couple hours, Romes' team took that a step further.
"We were able to do six different exploits across the four servers," he said.
His team won the simulated competition, but the actual threat is so serious that there's no reason to celebrate. They're here to continue working on a solution because for some, hacking is a way of life.
"There are organizations out there that that is their livelihood," said Tom Desot with Digital Defense Inc.
And they warn, a fake website or e-mail can make you fall victim to a very real problem. Cyber experts say, right now in online chat rooms, you can see real-time compromised credit card information being traded between criminal networks.
