A massive cyberattack was in the news again last week. This latest ransomware – dubbed “Petya” – crippled consumer product companies, transportation companies, law firms, and many other types of businesses worldwide. It is the second major ransomware attack in two months.
It appears that the Petya malware was delivered in a Microsoft Word document attached to an email. When the recipients opened the document, the malware encrypted their entire hard drive. It then looks for other unprotected computers in the same network and infects them.
This problem isn’t going away on its own. Companies need to be proactive. They need to train their employees with computer access to understand the risks, how to identify potential malware, what to do if they see it, and what to do if their computers becomes infected.
Not surprisingly, there are also technological solutions. As we often do, we defer to our firm’s Chief Privacy Officer Mark G. McCreary, CIPP/US, to explain the techie stuff (which he has done in this Alert).
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