According this this Tripwire article, two Melbourne-based businesses have been hit with cyber attacks. One, Cabrini Hospital in Malvern, Melbourne, confirmed it was infected with ransomware. Some reports even indicate that they have paid the ransom, though some files continue to be inaccessible. The other business, Toyota Australia, confirmed the cyber attack to be malware but is unsure as of yet if it’s ransomware, nor have they confirmed the malware that they were hit with.
The malware attack took down Toyota Australia’s website, as well as their phone and email systems. In a later-released statement, they did confirm the cyber attack but had no reason to believe that private employee nor customer data was breached. This is thought to indicate that the attack was indeed ransomware, as ransomware encrypts the data versus exfiltrating it. Toyota Australia’s IT team is working hand-in-hand with international cyber security experts to get their systems back up and running. Though Toyota Australia’s global operations were impacted, the dealer network was still operational.
Taking both accounts into consideration, ensuring that common and basic prevention measures are in place is vital. This includes securing authentication mechanisms to prevent leaked credentials or inhibit successful authentication via stolen passwords by incorporating MFA into the mix – WatchGuard’s AuthPoint can help with that. Further, staying vigilant when clicking on links or downloading attachments from unsolicited emails is crucial. Though both shouldn’t be taken lightly, the latter is the gateway for introducing possible cyber attacks.
In the case of the ransomware attack, having a proper and secure offline backup will ensure that even if a network is hit with ransomware, the offline backup would simply not be accessible over the network. This could include physical hard disks that are stored in a safe or vault, for instance. Other options include a monthly cycling of hard disks that contain that month’s data and then storing them in an offline location.
As for Toyota Australia’s circumstance, this goes to prove that just because you may have a big name, that doesn’t protect you from possibly being targeted.