How a ransomware attack cost one firm £45m
Found on BBC News on Tuesday, 25 June 2019
Imagine the excitement when hackers gained a foothold in the computer system of Norsk Hydro, a global aluminium producer.
We don't know when it was, but it's likely that once inside they spent weeks exploring this group's IT systems, probing for more weaknesses.
When they eventually launched their ransomware attack, it was devastating - 22,000 computers were hit across 170 different sites in 40 different countries.
Imagine the hacker's anticipation as they waited to receive a reply to their ransom note. After all, every minute counts for a modern manufacturing powerhouse. They probably thought they could name their price.
But the reply never came. The hackers were never even asked how much money they wanted. Imagine the shock.
That's the only way how to handle such incidents. This, and a reliable backup plan that allows you to go months back if required. To avoid having your backups encrypted too, backup systems should have read-only access to source systems and pull in the data. There is no need to give source systems write access on a backup system.