Last week, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) announced that a Russian ransomware group had breached the systems of several federal agencies and an unknown number of private organizations.
The attack took advantage of a known vulnerability in MOVEit, a popular file transfer software. The U.S. Energy Department revealed that data from two of its sections was stolen, while the State Department and the FBI declined to comment when asked whether their information was affected.
A senior CISA official did admit that the number of federal agencies affected may increase since other agencies like NASA, the Treasury Department, and the Defense Department had purchased the MOVEit software in the recent past. Several hundred other companies and organizations have said they were also impacted.
That includes local governments in Illinois, Canada, and the United Kingdom; international corporations like British Airways and Shell; prominent academic institutions like Johns Hopkins and the University of Georgia; and even England’s esteemed broadcasting conglomerate, the BBC.
So far, the Russian ransomware group responsible for the attack has insisted that they have no interest in exploiting stolen information for political or military gain. But these types of attacks have escalated in the year and a half since Russia invaded Ukraine. Cybersecurity experts believe many of them have been coordinated with the Russian government—and point out that compromised data can be sold to the highest bidder on the dark web, often ending up in the hands of other bad actors.
The good news is that CISA has described the breach as mostly “opportunistic,” with hackers testing out their ability to exploit the vulnerability that MOVEit publicly announced last month. No “specific high-valuable information” has turned up in digital black markets, and assessment reports so far claim that the attack has not been as damaging as previous cyber incidents.
If anything, the hack reinforces the fact that any company can be attacked—and that it’s critical to take a proactive approach to cybersecurity. Here are five recommendations from CMIT Solutions for beefing up protection for your business and your data:
The impact of this recent ransomware attack is still unfolding—but small and medium-sized businesses across North America can use it as an opportunity to shore up cybersecurity protections and enhance network defenses.
At CMIT Solutions, we believe it’s not so much a matter of if you’ll get hacked but when—and not whether it could happen but how severe the consequences will be when it does. That’s why we deploy practical, affordable cybersecurity tools that anticipate and reduce risk.
If you’re looking for a business partner who specializes in detecting and preventing cyberattacks while developing rapid response strategies to common problems, CMIT Solutions is here to help. We go the extra mile to protect the data, devices, and digital identities of our clients, with more than 900 staff members at 250 offices across North America working day and night to deploy enhanced protections and develop new strategies for business success.
Contact CMIT Solutions today to find out more.
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