We are creating some awesome events for you. Kindly bear with us.

Preemptive Measures to Mitigate Recent Ransomware Attacks

An IT management and software firm was recently the victim of a ransomware attack, which threatens businesses all over the world. Hundreds of businesses, including a railway, pharmacy chain, grocery chain in Sweden, and companies in New Zealand, were directly impacted by the supply-chain attack on the software company, which has been posting alerts on its website since Friday. However, at least 36,000 businesses were indirectly impacted by the attack because the organisation advised all its customers to take their servers offline on Friday and has yet to give them permission to re-enter the network.

According to the Ministry of Education, the effects of a cyber-attack in the United States have reached up to 11 New Zealand schools. Yesterday, the St. Peter’s school network was subjected to a global cyber-attack. We are working to recover data now that the system is stable. As a result, all school systems are currently inactive and will remain so for the next 48 hours.

Due to a global ransomware attack on the software firm, more than 100 kindergartens in the lower North Island are using pen and paper today. The chief executive of a kindergarten organisation stated that all member kindergartens – just over 100 in total – had been advised to turn off their laptops and computers while they investigated whether any data had been accessed.

“Our analysis has shown that 11 schools out of 2400 may have been affected by the ransomware attack,” said a spokesperson. He also added that they are currently working with those schools to provide them with support and will continue to identify if other schools have been impacted.

The attack targets the software company’s product, which allows small and medium-sized businesses to remotely monitor their computer systems and automatically handle routine server maintenance and security updates, among other things.

The government’s Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT NZ) has issued a warning to New Zealand organisations that use the software to manage their IT infrastructure that they may be targeted by a Russian-based ransomware attack. The targeted software company provides IT management software to Managed Service Providers (MSPs) and small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) in New Zealand, including clients and partners.

Organisations should have multiple layers of preemptive security in place so that if a ransomware attack cannot be stopped, the impact can be mitigated. The incident response manager for CERT NZ also stated that organisations should get ahead by implementing preventive measures and having a plan in place for what to do if they are affected at some point.

OpenGov Asia reported that In New Zealand, more than half of businesses have been successfully targeted by ransomware, with 20% estimating that their company has been targeted by 16 or more ransomware attacks a quarter.

With the risk of attack so high, organisations looking to continue accelerating their growth need to have a proactive plan in place to protect themselves. Cybersecurity measures are necessary, but ransomware attacks frequently bypass them or exploit security vulnerabilities. If this happens, the only alternative is to pay the ransom unless the company has a secure backup system.

Most organisations back up their data for disaster recovery and business continuity purposes. However, data restoration from these legacy systems, on the other hand, can be slow and inconvenient, with no guarantees. If the backup data is likewise corrupted, the company may have no choice but to pay the ransom and assume that the attacker decrypts the data without causing any additional damage.

Those affected had their information encrypted and were usually demanded to pay a fee to have it decrypted. However, CERT NZ strongly discourages people from paying because the perpetrators frequently return for more money or use the obtained information to blackmail people.

Effective ransomware prevention necessitates the use of good monitoring software, frequent file backups, anti-malware software, and user training. Although no cyber-defence can completely eliminate risk, people can greatly reduce the likelihood that attackers will be successful.

PARTNER

Qlik’s vision is a data-literate world, where everyone can use data and analytics to improve decision-making and solve their most challenging problems. A private company, Qlik offers real-time data integration and analytics solutions, powered by Qlik Cloud, to close the gaps between data, insights and action. By transforming data into Active Intelligence, businesses can drive better decisions, improve revenue and profitability, and optimize customer relationships. Qlik serves more than 38,000 active customers in over 100 countries.

PARTNER

CTC Global Singapore, a premier end-to-end IT solutions provider, is a fully owned subsidiary of ITOCHU Techno-Solutions Corporation (CTC) and ITOCHU Corporation.

Since 1972, CTC has established itself as one of the country’s top IT solutions providers. With 50 years of experience, headed by an experienced management team and staffed by over 200 qualified IT professionals, we support organizations with integrated IT solutions expertise in Autonomous IT, Cyber Security, Digital Transformation, Enterprise Cloud Infrastructure, Workplace Modernization and Professional Services.

Well-known for our strengths in system integration and consultation, CTC Global proves to be the preferred IT outsourcing destination for organizations all over Singapore today.

PARTNER

Planview has one mission: to build the future of connected work. Our solutions enable organizations to connect the business from ideas to impact, empowering companies to accelerate the achievement of what matters most. Planview’s full spectrum of Portfolio Management and Work Management solutions creates an organizational focus on the strategic outcomes that matter and empowers teams to deliver their best work, no matter how they work. The comprehensive Planview platform and enterprise success model enables customers to deliver innovative, competitive products, services, and customer experiences. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, with locations around the world, Planview has more than 1,300 employees supporting 4,500 customers and 2.6 million users worldwide. For more information, visit www.planview.com.

SUPPORTING ORGANISATION

SIRIM is a premier industrial research and technology organisation in Malaysia, wholly-owned by the Minister​ of Finance Incorporated. With over forty years of experience and expertise, SIRIM is mandated as the machinery for research and technology development, and the national champion of quality. SIRIM has always played a major role in the development of the country’s private sector. By tapping into our expertise and knowledge base, we focus on developing new technologies and improvements in the manufacturing, technology and services sectors. We nurture Small Medium Enterprises (SME) growth with solutions for technology penetration and upgrading, making it an ideal technology partner for SMEs.

PARTNER

HashiCorp provides infrastructure automation software for multi-cloud environments, enabling enterprises to unlock a common cloud operating model to provision, secure, connect, and run any application on any infrastructure. HashiCorp tools allow organizations to deliver applications faster by helping enterprises transition from manual processes and ITIL practices to self-service automation and DevOps practices. 

PARTNER

IBM is a leading global hybrid cloud and AI, and business services provider. We help clients in more than 175 countries capitalize on insights from their data, streamline business processes, reduce costs and gain the competitive edge in their industries. Nearly 3,000 government and corporate entities in critical infrastructure areas such as financial services, telecommunications and healthcare rely on IBM’s hybrid cloud platform and Red Hat OpenShift to affect their digital transformations quickly, efficiently and securely. IBM’s breakthrough innovations in AI, quantum computing, industry-specific cloud solutions and business services deliver open and flexible options to our clients. All of this is backed by IBM’s legendary commitment to trust, transparency, responsibility, inclusivity and service.

Send this to a friend