You would think that, as our world grows and advances technologically, the cyber world would get even safer. But the reality is that it only becomes more difficult (not impossible) for cyber criminals to do their work. And they work just as hard at disobeying the law as the good guys do at obeying it. Check out these recent stories which illustrate the case in point:
1. SolarWorld Americas Gets Hacked:
They are the largest solar panel manufacturer in the US. Interestingly, what sparked the attack was fights over the Chinese government helping manufacturers pay their costs to sell the panels at unfairly low prices. In response, the US Commerce Department put steep taxes on these imported solar panels. The Chinese wouldn’t be deterred however. They responded in two ways:
• Parts of the manufacturing process were moved to Taiwan to dodge the taxes
• Members of the Chinese military hacked SolarWorld and stole important business documents
In response to allegations of this, the Chinese denied any knowledge of such attacks and blamed the US for hacking its own companies.
2. Symantec Acknowledges the Manufacturing Industry is a Prime Target:
The odds of a cyberattack happening in the manufacturing industry were 33%, according to Symantec. The same article that discusses this also mentions that smaller companies often do not have the resources or simply overlook the fact they need to fight these cyber criminals. Even though all you hear about is the big guys getting hurt, smaller and medium manufacturing companies are better targets.
3. In 2012, Chinese Hackers take Full Command of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory:
Of all the different industrial systems that could be hacked, wouldn’t you think NASA would be one of the most heavily protected? I guess we don’t know the truth of their IT support measures. But you can assume it’s well above the average. The story appeared in Reuters, among many other places. The lab the cyber thieves hacked was responsible for managing 23 spacecraft that were conducting active missions. They were able to give themselves the ability to modify, copy, and delete all files, make new user accounts, and upload hacking tools. They also were sophisticated enough to access system logs, modify them, and hide any traces of their conduct. In addition to this incident, NASA was also hacked an additional 12 times, for a grand total of 13 successful hacking incidents in 2012.
There’s No Limit to What Hackers Can Do…
If they can hack NASA, and smaller and medium businesses are easier targets, what’s to stop hackers from accessing your company, stealing information, deleting your files, and demanding millions of dollars to get the information back? Having Data Security and Data Protection measures in place is a good place to start. That’s why it’s important to have an experienced, dedicated IT support team monitoring your cyber security at all times!
