We Are Being Robbed!

Before I get into it, let me preface by stating something: In my spare time I like to cook and look up crime statistics.

This winter, there have been numerous bank robberies in this metro area (Austin, Texas). Is this what happens in non-snowy parts of the country? I’m not sure yet, but I’m looking into it.

According to the FBI’s “Bank Crime Statistics 2017” report (the most recent full report), there were 3,880 bank robberies in the United States that year. Those numbers include commercial banks, mutual savings banks, savings and loan institutions, credit unions, armored carrier companies and a category the FBI calls “unknown.”

Commercial banks topped the list with 3,463 robberies. Credit unions came in second on the list with 338, followed by savings and loan institutions with 44, and that “unknown” place with 16. Interestingly, in 2,292 instances, the “Modus Operandi Used,” according to the FBI, was a demand note. A firearm was used in 773 cases.

If you go back to 2007, the number of documented robberies reported were almost double at 6,676. According to the FBI report, 489 of those occurred at credit unions. I really enjoy reading these FBI reports, because the wording in the reports changes as the years go on. For instance, in 2007, the FBI stated, “Loot was taken in 91% of the instances.” Sadly, the FBI has stopped using the term “Loot” as a reporting category.

The other thing about reading these reports is that you can almost follow positive and negative economic trends with the crime statistics. Simply put: Good economy, lower crime numbers. Bad economy, higher crime numbers.

Take a look back at 2006 to 2009 and you’ll see the economic recession reflected in the crime statistics. It almost feels like looking up your birthday to see what the number one song was the year you were born. Of note: My song was “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” by Diana Ross. According to the FBI, criminals stole $33,143,972.08 in 2013 and the FBI recovered $6,029,467.57. 2013 was the last year the FBI reported total amounts stolen from financial institutions.

If you take the 2017 total number of bank robberies (3,880), that averages out to about 10.6 robberies each day.

Between April and June of 2017, there were about 11,800 reports of cybercrime, and that averages out to one cybersecurity hacking attempt every 39 seconds, according to a study done by the University of Maryland. Of note, 18 million newly-discovered pieces of malware were discovered in one quarter.

This is roughly the equivalent of your credit union being robbed every single day, 24 hours each day, including when you’re closed on Saturday afternoons, Sundays and all the holidays.

It’s difficult to determine exact amounts of what has been stolen or compromised because, according to studies done by Microsoft, it takes an average of 146 days for a company or financial institution to even realize that they’ve been robbed/hacked/compromised. By that time, there have been other attacks, both detected and still undetected.

That’s why cybersecurity experts have to paint with a fairly large brush when compiling the cost. For instance, Cybersecurity Ventures, an organization that studies cybersecurity trends around the world, believes we will see a true financial loss of $6 trillion by 2021. That is up from its prediction of a $3 trillion loss in 2015. Its report states, “This represents the greatest transfer of economic wealth in history.”

If you weren’t worried enough about climate change and the costs related to that issue, Cybersecurity Ventures also stated in its report, “Cybercrime is the greatest threat to every company in the world, and one of the biggest problems with mankind.”

You might think that all of this is truly a dire situation. And you’d be 100% correct with those thoughts.

As we neared the end of 2018, our cybersecurity reporter Roy Urrico approached me with the idea of doing a series of cybersecurity forecast stories to begin this year because, as he said, “I write these stories and more sources keep coming forward with new cybersecurity warnings – and I can’t fit them all into one story.”

CU Times isn’t in the business of fixing the problem; we just report on the issues and share with our subscribers what experts are advising you to do and/or consider as you move forward with your cybersecurity plans. Many days, that can feel a little frustrating because there are so many problems with an overwhelming variety of possible solutions.

When you have cyberattacks coming at you, your members and your family at nearly every moment of every day, it’s like trying to use a banana to stop flood waters from a 24-hours-a-day Category 5 hurricane from rushing into your home.

As I’ve noted in previous columns, I’m personally fed up with Facebook and the organization’s continuing privacy problems. As a consumer and credit union member, on my iPhone, I get overwhelmed with trying to figure out what more can I do to protect my privacy and/or at least help reduce the chances that my credit union account or personal information won’t be compromised. Whatever I’ve done, it’s not working out.

Over the years, my banking and personal information have been taken during the Target and Home Depot data breaches, and a direct hack on a bank I was using for a mortgage years ago that wiped out the account.

For the past two days, I’ve been receiving calls from myself because someone has spoofed my iPhone. And apparently I have about a dozen warrants out for my arrest, according to the numerous robo-call voicemails.

Fortunately, credit unions tend to have good security protocols set up at the brick and mortar branches to help prevent and/or reduce the physical risk to employees and members when there is a robbery. Your lives are worth more than what’s in the till.

When it comes to the continuing cybersecurity problems, our lives are slowly being taken away from us.

What can we do? Can we go back and, as some say, put the genie back in the bottle? We don’t have all of the answers yet, but we’ll keep looking. In the meantime, I guess I’ll be blocking my calls to myself.

Michael Ogden is editor-in-chief for CU Times. He can be reached at mogden@cutimes.com.