It has always been important to have good cyber security, but the need has never been greater than now, with numerous criminals being joined by suspected Russian state actors aiming at disrupting services among Ukraine’s allies.
For that reasons, firms should seek IT support services in Essex that can provide strong cyber security, which is regularly maintained and updated to deal with emerging threats.
If ever a reminder was needed of the risk of attack, the main IT supplier to the NHS 111 service has just suffered a major hacking incident that could compromise the confidential patient records of thousands of people.
Advanced, which provides 85 per cent of the software used by NHS 111, has been hit with a ransomware strike that could lead to leaks of data if the demands are not met. The Heath Service Journal has said the nature of these demands has not been disclosed.
In addition to fears about confidentiality breaches, the situation has led to a shutdown of the system, with doctors often having to make medical decisions without having access to patient records.
Attacks on the NHS are nothing new, with the Wannacry attack in 2017 causing the service’s IT facilities to all but grind to a halt for several days, costing £92 million.
Even IT firms themselves can come under attack. The latest instance of this was Cisco, which has been hacked by Lapsus$ and Yanluowang hackers. This incident involved an elaborate phishing operation that managed to compromise the security of one of Cisco’s staff.
Fortunately, Cisco’s own expertise at least allowed the company to avert catastrophe, with the damage being limited to non-sensitive data collection. The hackers did not manage to gain access to a Box folder with more important information.
The disclosure of the breach was reported on August 19th, but the incident actually occurred in late May.
