Calgary Police Service Hosts Second Cyber Business Academy

As a part of Fraud Prevention Month, the Calgary Police Service Cyber/Forensics Unit is hosting a cybersecurity session for local businesses.

Today, Thursday, March 8, 2018, from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m., representatives from local businesses will be attending CPS headquarters to learn about how to keep their businesses safe in the digital world. This Cyber Business Academy will teach large businesses how to create a robust cybersecurity strategy to protect their data.

This Cyber Business Academy will feature experts from Cybis, a cybersecurity firm that works with businesses across all industries, who will present on how organizations can be at risk for cyberattacks. There will also be discussion about how organizations need to think like an attacker and how to build an integrated approach to security to make businesses more resilient.

Over the past year, CPS has seen multiple businesses become the targets of cyber attackers, resulting in losses of up to tens of thousands per business. Businesses are often targeted by cyber attackers sending phishing emails to employees in a company. These emails may include fraudulent links that install ransomware when clicked, which causes vital business data to be encrypted and locked until the ransom is paid. In other instances, employees working in finance or accounting roles are specifically targeted with fraudulent emails directing them to transfer funds between accounts or pay a fraudulent invoice. Theses emails are made to look legitimate and can easily be mistaken as coming from a colleague, vendor or boss.

Experts from Cybis were in Calgary for the 2018 CPS Cyber Summit, which was hosted by the Service earlier this week and wrapped up on Wednesday, March 7, 2018. The Summit brought together 400 law enforcement representatives from across the world to discuss the current trends in cybercrime and what police agencies are doing to address crime occurring online.

Last year in Calgary, 1,772 reported crimes had a cyber component. Forty-nine per cent of these cybercrimes were related to fraud and identity theft. Other cybercrimes included harassment, violence and weapons offences, domestic-related offences, property crime, sex crimes and child pornography.

The first session of the Cyber Business Academy was held in October 2017 and focused on cybersecurity strategies for small businesses.