If you think large companies and government organizations are too secure for cybersecurity attacks or that your small business is safe, think again.
Although uncommon, there have been some recent malware attacks that successfully infiltrated the systems of high-profile organizations.
Keep reading to learn more about these and to understand what this means for your business.
Biggest Recent Malware Attacks
Although there have been a number of smaller attacks on businesses over the past few years, these are some of the most impactful and recent ones.
1. WannaCry
Although this attack happened in 2017, it’s worth mentioning because of how far-reaching and damaging it was to those who were attacked.
There were 230,000 computers affected by the WannaCry ransomware virus throughout Britain, Russia, and 150 other countries around the world. It targeted a security vulnerability in computers running older Windows operating systems.
In addition to being a ransomware virus that took control of systems until a ransom was paid, it was also considered a worm because it self-replicated to continue to infect other computer systems.
Although Microsoft acted quickly to provide a patch to stop the virus, it had already done an estimated $4 billion of damages.
2. Robinn Hood
In April of 2018, another ransomware virus later known as Robinn Hood attacked a number of government computers in Baltimore, Maryland.
Although the attacker only demanded a ransom of $75,000 of Bitcoin, there was an estimated $18.2 million worth of damages that occurred because of the attack.
This type of attack wasn’t isolated to Baltimore, either. Other city systems that have faced similar situations include Atlanta, Georgia, and Greenville, North Carolina.
3. KKNPP Attack
One of the most recent cybersecurity attacks that may not be over yet happened in India in September 2019. The administration systems of the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant (KKNPP) were breached by a virus.
The virus was introduced to their systems by an infected computer that was brought in from the outside.
At this point, there wasn’t any damage done because the administration system operates separately from the plant itself, but it’s still up in the air if this was a preliminary attack and something more serious will happen or not.
Is Your Business in Danger?
Let’s glance back through each of these attacks to see how your company can be at risk.
If you’re running any Microsoft system and haven’t applied all of the most recent updates, your computers may still be vulnerable to the WannaCry virus or other similar malware attacks.
While the Robinn Hood virus was targetting government computers, there are many other ransomware viruses designed to attack businesses.
Although your business shouldn’t expect an attack from the same group that went after the power plant in India, there is something to be learned there as well.
That attack came as a result of an outside computer that was brought into their secure system. If you allow your employees to use their own devices with your network, you run the risk of them getting a virus that can infect your systems.
Need Better Cybersecurity?
Now you know about some of the recent malware attacks that got into systems that should have been secure. As you can see, nobody is truly safe from cybercriminals.
If this post has you worried about the cybersecurity measures your company is currently taking, contact us today. We would be more than happy to evaluate your current systems and help you get them completely secure.
