The WannaCry ransomware cyber attack orchestrated over the weekend of the 12th of May should act as a stark reminder to companies that data backups need to be done regularly, that security solutions have to remain up to date and that user education is still a vital component of every security policy.
This is according to Andrew Potgieter, Security Solutions Director at Westcon-Comstor Southern Africa, who adds that even more unnerving is that “kits” to put together attacks of this nature are readily available for download on the Internet and doesn’t require a group of elite hactivists to run.
“Ransomware encrypts the data in your data centre (storage) or on personal devices and holds it ‘ransom’ until you pay the fee requested by the ‘data kidnapper’. What made the WannaCry attack so different is that it was done on a global scale, spreading to 150 countries, impacting over 10,000 organisations and 200,000 individuals – exploiting a security flaw in Windows XP,” states Potgieter.
Furthermore, he says that perhaps the most startling component of the attack is that so many companies were simply crippled. Highlighting that there is a real flaw in IT security policies, there are few organisations with effective “crisis situation” policies in place and that companies who simply fall back on two-dimensional, anti-intrusion detection and prevention methods will continue to fall victim.
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SOURCE - IT NEWS AFRICA (Written by Andrew Potgieter)