Isle Of Wight Schools Hit By Ransomware
Sadly yet another network of Schools have been hit by Ransomware and there doesn’t seem to be an end in sight.
Isle of Wight schools network was compromised with ransomware on 28th July and have since been working around the clock with the Education Federation and the police Cybercrime Unit to work with the attackers in releasing the system back to the school.
The federation said: “We are working with officers from the police Cybercrime Unit to pursue the cyber criminals and understand the full impact of the attack.
“There are obviously some significant implications of this, which we are managing and will take measures to secure our systems even further in the future.
“We are working with the local Police and Authority, Department for Education, Cyber support and various ICT system providers to move this forward and ensure that necessary and appropriate systems are in place for the new academic year.”
The NCSC (National Cyber Security Centre) highlighted back in February the need for action over the rapid increase in ransomware attacks on the UK education sector, but a lot remains to be actioned. Investigations after the announcement were carried out between May and June of 2021 which unveiled further cyber attacks across many schools, colleges and universities.
Iran’s Transport System Grinds To A Halt Due To Cyber Attack
The official IRNA news agency reported just days ago that the national transport and railways network, websites and computer systems had all been infected by a cyber attack causing mass chaos with passenger and cargo trains brought to a standstill, disruptions and cancellations continued throughout the day and across the network.
This is not the first time Iran’s transport system has been subjected to cyber attacks, the minister of telecommunications, Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi, had previously warned the government about possible cyber-attacks through the likes of ransomware. However the government has yet to make a statement on the subject which leaves many in fear of a repeat.
We Did Warn You! Remote Working Cyber Attacks Are On The Increase!!
Now I know people don’t like to hear the words “I told you so…” but I did warn you! And surprisingly though there is a big increase in attacks it isn’t necessarily the increase in attacks which have been the route cause of a system being infected, no, that in fact has been due to employers and employees laxed approach to their cyber security, basically pretty much not scrutinising or checking their systems are safe and up to date, instead forgetting about it altogether.
A report carried out by the UK and US based security firm Tessian found that almost 60% of IT technicians and support companies believed their staff and clients had ignored their calls to ensure they kept their systems in check. Tessian then surveyed the individuals in question for further clarification, who all agreed with the IT technicians assessment of them.
More does need to be done in the prevention of such attacks and all it takes is a couple of minutes in the morning or evening to check to see if your computer, internet, software, browser and emails are up to date with the latest software versions!
DON’T LEAVE YOUR IT SECURITY TO CHANCE! LEAVE IT TO THE PROFESSIONALS!
Almost 90% Of Global Organisations Expect A Cyber Attack Within A Year
Findings from Trend Micro’s biannual Cyber Risk Index report that surveyed over 3,600 SME’s from across the globe have indicated that at least 86% of those surveyed believed it was extremely likely that they would be hit by some form of cyber attack within the next 12 months.
Of those surveyed 24% had been hit with 7 attacks within the previous year affecting systems and networks, 21% received 7 or more data breaches and 20% at least 7 customer data breaches.
The report found that the highest risk of loss that had the most damning and dramatic effects on the health of a business came through consumer data theft, stolen confidential information and both company and customer financial information breaches.
Larry Ponemon, CEO for the Ponemon Institute, said “This type of resource is increasingly useful as harmful security incidents continue to be a challenge for businesses of all sizes and industries.”
300% Increase in Cybercrime In West Indian City
Surat located in the western Indian state of Gujarat and one of India’s largest commercial and economic centres, as well as being one of the largest urban areas in western India has seen a record breaking 3000% increase in cyber security attacks and breaches between June 2020 to June 2021 compared to the previous year.
Many people have subsequently lost all there life savings and many have been locked out of the banking system altogether.
The police have launched an awareness campaign informing people of such fraud, the city police commissioner Ajay Tomar said “Our teams are working to identify victims, detect the cases and create awareness. Considering the rising numbers, we have started a month-long drive to prevent cyber crime cases,”
However a government official suggested the problem will not improve until the people of Surat start using secured internet systems and networks.
One in Three Australians Report Attacks
A first of its type report looking into cybercrime carried out by the Australian Institute of Criminology discovered the Australian economy lost approximately AU$3.5B from cybercrime over a 12 month period YoY. The costs consisted of AU$1.9 billion in losses, AU$1.4 billion on prevention and AU$600 dealing with the fallout.
It has been estimated that a rough total of 9.5 million Australians had been impacted by different types of cyber attacks and more needed to be done in the prevention.
Lead author of the publication Coen Teunissen warned Australians saying:
“Cyber crime is a growing, borderless and continually evolving body of crimes which can threaten individuals, businesses, government and national security.”
“Equally, it is imperative that the financial harms associated with cyber crime are assessed so that resources for prevention and response activities can be targeted most effectively, and a baseline can be developed against which to measure the impact of future policy responses.”
