Cyber Attacks

There has been two different international cyber-attacks over the last few days that is apart from the ongoing digital identity threat.
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• The first was a rash of email-based malware where users are tricked into opening a PDF which had a ‘macro’ (an automatic app) connected. The ‘macro’ typically turns your machine into a ‘BOT’ (aka a robot under control of some remote person). These types of attacks have been around for a while and rely on users blindly clicking on unknown links (social engineering).
  BOT’s are then typically used to attack sites on mass…. aka hundreds of thousands of machines swamp a web site with requests. These are called DDOS attacks and very little can be done to stop them once they start.
• The second is a known Windows exploit that enables a situation where most files on your machine are encrypted … which you can then get unencrypted for a price (typically about $600 but recent demands are asking for  $6300). This is called ransomware.

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The ransomware attack is the most recent and serious. There is nothing you can do to ‘fix’ these attacks, other than pay the ransom or rebuild your whole computer from scratch.

Simple prevention steps

1. Expect the computer systems you use to continue to ratchet up security standards. Be suspicious if you do something odd and no warnings flash up.
2. You MUST keep your home and workstation up to date. 
3. Always practice safe browsing (aka never click on unknown links).  
4. Keep those passwords complex and recent. 
5. Back up your personal work onto a USB pen and throw it in a drawer.