As seen in Forbes | Published October 3, 2019
The FBI has warned that health care organizations, industrial companies, and the transportation sector, are being targeted by ransomware attacks.
According to a recent article in Forbes, although attack methodologies continue to evolve, with cyber-criminals doing all they can to avoid detection, the FBI highlights three attack techniques that are being observed:
- Email phishing campaigns,
- Remote desktop protocol vulnerabilities, and
- Software vulnerabilities
Mitigation includes ensuring operating systems, software and device firmware are all updated with the latest security patches. Data should also be backed up regularly, and the integrity of these backups verified.
The article further states that after three hospitals in Alabama were forced to turn away non-critical patients after a ransomware attack on October 1, Javvad Malik, security awareness advocate at KnowBe4, said:
“Companies of all sizes across all verticals need to be prepared for ransomware and have in place not only technical controls to prevent, detect, and respond to it, but also raise security awareness among staff so that any attempts to install ransomware via phishing or other social engineering attacks can be thwarted.”
Read the full article on Forbes.com
EPIC’S CYBERSECURITY PRACTICE
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The impact and publicity of major breaches has driven boards of directors to significantly increase budgets for cybersecurity programs across most companies. Though some companies have implemented increased measures, the reality is that most of these measures are inadequate. Security breaches create significant business disruption, negatively impact stock performance, and are frequently resulting in termination of company officers. EPIC has identified cyber risk exposure through emerging technologies to be the TOP risk facing the business and industry.
October is National Cybersecurity Awareness Month (NCSAM), a collaborative effort between government and industry to raise awareness about the importance of cybersecurity. Join us in sharing this year’s message to Own IT. Secure IT. Protect IT.
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