The WannaCry ransomware―which has wreaked havoc across the internet on global scale―has now been reported in 99 countries, including Russia and China. The National Health Service (NHS) was hit hardest in England and Scotland, where operations at many medical facilities were affected, resulting in thousands of appointment cancellations. Elsewhere, the restaurant app Zomato has also been compromised, affecting the records of nearly 17 million users, from reservations to personal information.
Much of this illegal behavior is accomplished via phishing and compromised passwords. The problem is, despite half of corporate employees having a basic knowledge of phishing, 30 percent of workers do not know what phishing is and 10 percent are unable to provide a guess. Furthermore, 63 percent of U.S. respondents and 58 percent of U.K. respondents don’t know what ransomware is at all.
This is not good, but the message is clear: bad actors and hacktivists are no longer simply looking to disrupt the agendas of financial institutions, political campaigns, and the sensitive info held by law firms. They’re also looking to interfere with that upcoming romantic dinner reservation at your favorite restaurant, or cancel that appointment you took three months to book with a specialist.
Whether it’s email, online banking, or password hijacking, it just takes one instance of a breach―just one password or phishing response―for cyber criminals to “hackcess” your other accounts. These examples of cyber crime and data breaches are inevitably going to be aimed at your company—if they haven’t already. That’s why it’s important to partner with a company that can ward off attacks before they get started, or maybe they already have been.
CSC® is currently offering access to a free security toolkit to help as an outline on how to prepare your business and its employees.