We are following three IT Security news stories that have gained mainstream attention. Today on the blog we are going to re-cap all three stories, and talk about what they mean for the IT world
Garmin pays up
Garmin is still recovering from the ransomware attack we talked about on last week’s blog, you can read it here. The company reportedly received a decryption key, meaning some sort of ransom was paid. The original ransom demanded by the hackers was 10 million dollars, but Garmin has not acknowledged the ransom publicly. A week and a half since the attack, device users are still having issues related to the services taken offline.
This attack is an example of why it’s important to have a quality backup solution, and an incident response plan. When Garmin was attacked, they had to take all services offline, which included phone, email, and chat support. Not only did they have to disrupt the service they provide, but they also had no way to communicate with customers other than statements on Twitter.
Follow-up on massive Twitter hack
Twitter released more information about the hack that compromised many high profile accounts. They are citing a mobile spearphishing attack on employees as the cause. Twitter says employees were compromised, allowing hackers to access internal company tools. Twitter made a point to say, the employees who were compromised were not in a position to access the tools needed for the attack. Criminals used the information they had on some employees to attack more technical employees and gain access to the tools needed. In part of their statement Twitter said, “This was a striking reminder of how important each person on our team is in protecting our service.”
We couldn’t have said it better. As Jack always says, your employees can be your biggest asset, or your biggest liability. This is also a reminder that it’s not just the employees who are working in the IT department who are important. Any infiltration of the company systems can lead to an attack on the database or system tools.
Microsoft to buy TikTok
TikTok has been under increased scrutiny since Amazon “mistakenly” told all of its employees to delete the app. You can read our blog post , ‘Is TikTok Safe?’ Here. The US government has continued to talk about banning the app in the US since this new publicity. Over the weekend it was reported Microsoft is looking into buying TikTok for the US, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand markets. Microsoft has vowed to make data security their number one priority. They have until September 15th to complete the deal. Investment organizations are predicting the deal could be in the 50 billion dollar range.
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