The evolving threat of ransomware has been growing for some time but it really burst into people’s consciousness in early May. That’s when a small group of hackers, apparently based in Russia, but not acting on behalf of the Kremlin, shut down the biggest fuel pipeline in the US for almost a week.
It was an audacious hack that confounded the company, Colonial Pipeline, and caused havoc down the east coast of the US as fuel stocks began to dry up and consumers started to stockpile petrol for their cars. And the cherry on top of the whole story? The hackers seem to have got what they wanted….a five million dollar ransom paid in Bitcoin.
We’ve been writing over the last few weeks about how effective today’s ransomware hackers have become, and how vulnerable so many organisations are. This new attack just proves once again that no-one is safe from a ransomware company who can kick you out of your systems, shut it down and not let you back in until you pay up.
If the entire east coast of the United States can be made vulnerable by a single group of bad actors, then what hope is there for small or medium businesses.
The good news is that cybersecurity is also evolving and changing fast, and with increased awareness should come better security. Once people know what they’re up against, they tend to change their behaviours and tighten security….and the solutions are the same as they have ever been.
Bear in mind that these are not formidable new tactics or new technology being deployed – it’s the same kind of hacking but it’s the volume that has really increased.
If you’re careful with your passwords, you enable two-factor authentication, use cloud technologies that have sophisticated global security teams and make your whole team responsible for the security of an organisation, then you won’t present an easy target for ransomware.
Obviously, it’s a little disappointing that the best one can hope for is to appear less vulnerable than another company…but that is the state of the world right now. Until the countries of the world really come together to tackle and eliminate this global threat – being careful is about the best you can do.
Having a security partner on-board eases the burden on over-stretched companies. You get peace of mind from working with a security partner like 2|SEC who can monitor your systems, advise you on weak spots and security protocols and help you deal with any unwanted cyberattacks.
Get in touch and discover what 2|SEC can do for your business.