This weekend’s attack demonstrated the vulnerability of large organisations to cyber crime and extortion. Even big budgets and dedicated IT support teams were no defence.
Hopefully, your business has not been affected, but from what I’ve read so far, the key weaknesses exploited were old operating systems and/or software that had not been updated. The computers affected seems to have been running Windows XP or Windows 7 and 8 that did not have the latest security patches installed.
Remember, when Microsoft issues a security update, it’s to block a vulnerability they have discovered. Hackers know this so they identify what the patch has fixed and build their hack to exploit the gap in PC’s that haven’t been updated.
So the key messages for me (and hopefully for you) are:
- Update any equipment running Windows XP, which no longer gets security updates.
- Make sure all PC’s are set to automatically install Microsoft updates.
If you rely heavily on your IT system and would like more information on how to better protect it and the types of cyber insurance available, please give me a call or drop me an email.