As the threat of cyber warfare and cyber-crime continues to evolve, there has been a steady rise in targeted ransomware attacks that are intended not only to encrypt data but also to cause significant disruption to critical services. As such, private companies have either been directly targeted or have been impacted as collateral damage.
White House Issues Memo Following Targeted Ransomware Attacks
Last week, Anne Neuberger, the US Deputy National Security Advisor for Cyber and Emerging Technology, issued a memo on behalf of the White House urging private companies to act and mitigate against the growing threat of ransomware attacks.
The memo follows a series of high-profile attacks against US companies including Colonial Pipeline, SolarWinds, and most recently, JBS USA.
JBS, the world’s largest meat supplier, was forced to shut down operations in nine plants following the incident. The targeted cyber-attack impacted servers supporting North American and Australian information systems. The FBI has since confirmed that the incident was linked to REvil / Sodinokibi – a prolific cyber threat actor group.
White House Cyber Resilience Recommendations
The latest memo issued reiterates the need for sound cyber resilience and engagement from senior management. Some basic recommendations made by the White House include:
- Deployment of multi-factor authentication
- Segmentation and isolation of operational networks
- Testing of back-up solutions
- Testing of cyber incident response and disaster recovery plans
Crisis24 Cyber Risk Mitigation Solutions
Crisis24 regularly responds to cyber extortion events, including ransomware. We support clients build and develop cyber resilience and maturity.
A sound cyber security risk and crisis management capability make an organization more resilient - protecting systems and data critical to business operations and ensuring compliance with legal and regulatory requirements. This helps to reduce the likelihood of cyber security incidents occurring or, at least, can prevent them from escalating into crises.
Crisis24 offers the following pre-incident and response services:
- Cyber threat intelligence and analysis
- Cyber resilience review
- Risk assessments
- Security and awareness training
- Development, review, and refinement of policies, processes, and plans
- Cyber incident response
- Crisis management
- Crisis communications
- Forensics
- Restoration
To learn more, contact us now.
