You may have heard of the two high profile ransomware attacks this week on the Colonial Pipeline and the European research facility. These attacks were made possible by vulnerabilities through phishing and untrustworthy program downloads, respectively.

The Colonial Pipeline shutdown affected 5,500 miles of the system responsible for 45% of the American east coast’s oil supply. The phisher was able to get access through a phishing email that had a malicious link. The link was clicked and opened the vulnerability that gave access to those that caused the shutdown.

A student that had access to a research facility’s internal network through university partnership had installed a pirated program to their computer. A virus in this program hidden in their computer while accessing the facility’s network gave access to the outside invader.

What is ransomware?

A ransomware attack is one that utilizes the user to open links/download files on their computer causing a vulnerability in their system that allows the perpetuator to gain access to the user’s information and data. Typically, the perpetuator then holds the info hostage, demanding a payment to prevent the leaking of the information.

What can you do?

The most important thing you can do to prevent receiving your own ransomware is to stay vigilant. Double checking where a message came from and if it matches they style of correspondence they normally send you is the first and best step to determine if an email or IM is malicious.

If your business is concerned about ransomware or other malicious action through company computer network, August eTech can provide a security audit service.