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Cyber Threats & Solutions<br />
Cybersecurity executives ‘Wannacrypt’ ransomware<br />
attack a wake-up call for industry, government leaders<br />
By Steve Bittenbender<br />
Editor, Government Security News<br />
The ransomware attack that plagued<br />
the globe on Friday must serve as a<br />
“wake-up call” to both industry and<br />
government leaders that the time for<br />
urgent action is now. That’s how one<br />
of Microsoft’s top executives reacted<br />
to the “WannaCrypt” attack that<br />
targeted computer systems in various<br />
industries worldwide, including<br />
healthcare and government systems.<br />
“WannaCrypt,” also dubbed<br />
“WannaCry,” was a ransomware attack<br />
that paralyzed hospitals in Great<br />
Britain and even FedEx in the United<br />
States, although the attack seemed<br />
to focus mainly on Russian servers<br />
based on information provided from<br />
Kapersky Labs. A ransomware attack<br />
is where a hacker encrypts files and<br />
threatens to destroy the data if the<br />
ransom – in the case of “WannaCrypt,”<br />
it was at least $300 in Bitcoin<br />
– is not paid within a certain time.<br />
In a Sunday blog post on Microsoft’s<br />
Web site, company President<br />
and Chief Legal Officer Brad Smith<br />
said the hackers used material stolen<br />
from the National Security Agency<br />
Brad Smith<br />
to perpetrate the attack. The NSA<br />
breach had been previously reported,<br />
and, in March, Microsoft released<br />
a patch to its users to protect<br />
them from an attack. While some users<br />
updated their systems, others did<br />
not, and they were the ones scrambling<br />
on Friday.<br />
The ransomware attack<br />
“demonstrates the degree to<br />
which cybersecurity has become<br />
a shared responsibility<br />
between tech companies<br />
and customers,” Smith said.<br />
“The fact that so many computers<br />
remained vulnerable<br />
two months after the release<br />
of a patch illustrates this aspect. As<br />
cybercriminals become more sophisticated,<br />
there is simply no way<br />
for customers to protect themselves<br />
against threats unless they update<br />
their systems. Otherwise they’re literally<br />
fighting the problems of the<br />
present with tools from the past.”<br />
Dan Matthews, a sales engineer<br />
with Lastline, said network managers<br />
had another option to prevent the<br />
attack if they were not able to get the<br />
patch installed in time.<br />
He, like other experts, said the ransomware<br />
attack served as an important<br />
reminder of being proactive in<br />
managing cybersecurity risks.<br />
“In practice things are often more<br />
complicated and there are legitimate<br />
reasons for needing more time to<br />
implement a patch,” Matthews said.<br />
“Organizations who are unable to<br />
deploy Microsoft’s (or other<br />
software vendors’) critical<br />
patches in a timely manner<br />
can instead implement advanced<br />
email and network<br />
protections that are capable<br />
of detecting ransomware<br />
and preventing the delivery<br />
of these payloads to unpatched<br />
computers.”<br />
Ofer Israeli, CEO and founder of<br />
Illusive Networks, said he expects<br />
hackers will continue to use the stolen<br />
NSA material for other attacks.<br />
“In this case, we are seeing an opportunistic<br />
ransomware operation,<br />
but we can expect the exploit is already<br />
being used for surgical targeted<br />
attacks, the outcome of which will<br />
only be revealed in a few months,<br />
due to the time it takes to execute<br />
a sophisticated targeted attack,” he<br />
said.<br />
Brian Lord, OBE, managing director<br />
for British-based PGI Cyber, said<br />
the attacks were “always inevitable.”<br />
Lord also echoed Smith’s comments<br />
on this being a wake-up call.<br />
“While organizations are distracted<br />
by high profile dramatized threats,<br />
such as Russian election hacking,<br />
they are neglecting basic cyber hygiene<br />
measures which can prevent<br />
the mass effectiveness of mass ransomware<br />
attacks like this,” said Lord,<br />
the former director of deputy director<br />
for intelligence and cyber operations<br />
for Britain’s Government Communications<br />
Headquarters.<br />
Smith added that it’s time government<br />
leaders readdress their<br />
cybersecurity policies, as attacks<br />
like “WannaCrypt” are becoming<br />
an emerging problem this year. He<br />
equated the NSA losing its coding to<br />
the military having a few Tomahawk<br />
missiles taken.<br />
“This is one reason we called in<br />
February for a new ‘<strong>Digital</strong> Geneva<br />
Convention’ to govern these issues,<br />
including a new requirement for<br />
governments to report vulnerabilities<br />
to vendors, rather than stockpile,<br />
sell, or exploit them,” Smith said.<br />
“And it’s why we’ve pledged our support<br />
for defending every customer<br />
everywhere in the face of cyberattacks,<br />
regardless of their nationality.”<br />
40 41<br />
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