On Friday 12th May, WannaCry a strain of Ransomware, hit thousands of computers worldwide. It is far more dangerous than other common ransomware because it is able to spread itself across an organisation’s network due to a vulnerability in Windows computers. How have you protected your business against these types of attacks that are becoming more common place and seemingly innocuous?
Some simple measures to protect yourself and your business include:
1. Refrain from opening attachments that look suspicious.
Not only does this apply to messages sent by unfamiliar people but also to senders who you believe are your acquaintances. Phishing emails may masquerade as notifications from a delivery service, an e-commerce resource, a law enforcement agency, or a banking institution.
2. Think twice before clicking.
Dangerous hyperlinks can be received via social networks or instant messengers, and the senders are likely to be people you trust, including your friends or colleagues. For this attack to be deployed, cyber criminals compromise their accounts and submit bad links to as many people as possible.
3. Forward any suspicious emails to your IT support to test before you open them.
4. Insure against the risk of an attack
If you store or process sensitive information, if your business would suffer if the data you store regarding your clients, employees or operations were to be compromised or no longer available or if your company is reliant on your data and IT systems, then we highly recommend business insurance against cyber crimes.
At MD, we have included this as part of our strategy to allow us to recover from such an attack as quickly as possible to continue serving our clients. If you would like details on the specialised product we have used please contact Jesse Okkerts at our office.