The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Ethical hacker calls on companies to be prepared
A cyber security expert has urged businesses to plan for the moment their defences against a hack attack are compromised.
Gerry Grant, chief ethical hacker at the Scottish Business Resilience Centre (SBRC), said companies needed to be more pro-active in their approach to cyber crime and put the processes and systems in place that can limit damage in the event of a successful attack.
Mr Grant was speaking after a recent survey found a significant proportion of Scottish companies are prepared to pay money to bring a so-called ransomware attack to a conclusion.
“Businesses should ensure that all antivirus is kept up to date and that they have recent and reliable backups of all systems,” he said.
“Prevention is always the best form of defence.
“All users should have good awareness of this potential threat to the business, what to look out for and what to do should an attack happen.
“They should be wary of random messages, odd emails containing invoices or urgent payment details and attachments.
“Modification of numerous files in a short space of time is also a major giveaway, as well as unusual network activity.”
Mr Grant said firms should also make provisions for dealing with hack-affected hardware.
“Reimaging the device is the only remedy for ransomware attack – removing the computer of all software and reinstalling safely.
“Businesses can prevent any future attacks by immediately updating their antivirus systems, ensuring that no malicious files remain and monitoring network traffic to check it is back to normal.
“Preparing for the worst-case scenario and planning to fail means that, ultimately, businesses are able to recover much quicker with minimal impact to the everyday running of the organisation.”