Regarding cybersecurity, the crucial point is the timing of an organization encountering a cyber incident, not a matter of if. Even the most advanced security utilities can’t resist the primary danger: human actions.
October is recognized as the Month of Cybersecurity Awareness, the period of time when we commemorate all things frightening. Hence, it appeared fitting to request cybersecurity specialists to reveal some of their most unforgettable and chilling cyber occurrences. (To avoid any negative repercussions, names and organizations are kept confidential as suffering a cyber incident is already undesirable.)
The ultimate clickbait victim
A construction firm faced considerable theft and the illicit transfer of funds from within the corporation to a malevolent entity. Obviously, the supervisor was displeased, and because it involved a financial loss, federal authorities were notified.
Following a thorough examination of the incident intricacies, it was uncovered that a user had a tendency to activate hyperlinks in emails — not merely any hyperlinks, but all of them! This individual disregarded all guidelines provided in awareness training and consistently succumbed to phishing ploys. Furthermore, this was acknowledged by the management and ownership.
A more detailed investigation revealed that during the security crisis and subsequent network breach, official company documents were purloined and employed against the corporation. The threat actor utilized these official documents to channel funds and change vendor payment specifics, in addition to tampering with employee payroll direct deposits.
However, the most petrifying aspect of the account is that the user, acknowledged for engaging with all kinds of links, was still allowed to function in such an influential and high-profile role.
Public WiFi reveals excessive information
An executive at a senior level decided to work from a coffee shop over a weekend, connecting to the public WiFi and then accessing the corporation’s servers. This individual worked within the sales department and owing to their senior status, had administrative rights to customer records, confidential data, and customer financial data.
What appeared to be a swift bout of out-of-office work transformed into the ideal scenario for a hacker to execute a man-in-the-middle assault and commence siphoning sensitive data from the connection connecting this individual’s computer and the company servers. By interacting with these sensitive files, they inadvertently exposed them to the malicious assailant.
Fortunately, the security team intercepted this error before any substantial harm was inflicted. If this had turned out poorly, the customers’ banking details might have been compromised. It vividly depicts how straightforward it can be to fall prey to an assault and, even more significantly, emphasizes the essential nature of safeguarding your data.
Culpable of malicious downloading
A legal firm encountered a ransomware attack. It initiated when an individual was scouring for a court case and downloaded a PDF from one of the initial links they stumbled upon.
The legal firm informed their insurance provider, who linked them with a response team for breaches. This team instructed them to power down all the computers within the environment. The entire firm was non-operational for over fourteen days while the response team duplicated the drives, deployed them in isolated settings, and tried to pinpoint the initial access point. Once they were reasonably convinced they identified the point of entry, it required another fortnight to progressively rebuild and bring the remaining computers back online.
To prevent future ransomware attacks, the firm implemented regular cybersecurity instruction, introduced new monitoring utilities, and enhanced the sites that could be accessed by their staff (e.g., through reliable DNS).
Rogue blog
An online vendor was compromised when an administrator installed a WordPress blog on their e-commerce web server. Despite good intentions, the execution was substandard. The CMS was not integrated into regular upkeep or vulnerability scanning, thus remaining lacking in updates, including a crucial flaw in the password resetting procedure. Inadequate coding practices indicated that a webshell uploaded via the CMS admin site could swiftly discover hardcoded database credentials.
Another action, well-intended but poorly implemented, occurred when the individual who first detected the breach endeavored to eliminate the webshell, eradicating many forensic signs in the process and substantially hindering the ensuing investigation.
The case of the missing laptop
An administrator at a medical practice had tasks to complete over a holiday weekend, so they carried their work laptop home. This individual was a tenured employee, well-regarded, and with excellent staff evaluations — the kind of person any organization could rely upon to be a responsible custodian of any sensitive data in their possession.
The specific work laptop the employee took home contained patient information covered by HIPAA safeguards, in addition to financial data that could immediately wreak havoc on the organization if it landed in the wrong hands.
The medical practice workers were understandably distressed at losing their colleague, whom they had known for years, and conveyed their sympathies to the family and each other. Concurrently, there were concerns regarding the laptop and the sensitive data it contained. The family was briefed about the requirement to return the laptop to the medical facility, but it was nowhere to be found.
The medical practice was now confronted with the prospect of needing to report the circumstance as a data breach, but they also wanted to ensure that the data remained secure and confidential. The organization employed a Managed Service Provider (MSP), which deployed security utilities across the medical practice’s devices, including encryption and remote data security tools such as access revocation, remote data erasure, and additional security and reporting solutions.
The MSP promptly conducted an inspection of the computer and confirmed that it was indeed linked and online. By activating another anti-theft utility, they managed to turn on the laptop’s camera to pinpoint the laptop’s location and user.
The visual evidence uncovered none other than the deceased administrator — alive and well in an RV in the desert. Evidently, they were watching YouTube videos with a new dirt bike leaning against the wall. Law enforcement was notified, and further traces pinpointed the rogue employee’s location. Authorities found the administrator with the stolen laptop, $8,000 in cash, and then discovered the RV was also stolen.
Simply relying on encryption would not have sufficed (given that the administrator had the credentials). What proved critical was the capability to remotely nullify access and erase sensitive data from a device entirely.
Ensure Safety from Cyber Terror
These cybersecurity horror anecdotes emphasize one aspect: the unpredictability of a breach occurring. However, when organizations leverage a blend of cybersecurity instruments, education, and proactive preparation, the aftermath of a cyberattack or breach need not be absolutely terrifying.