The menace of cybercrime has hit every third business in town, even the cloud data management and data security firm Rubrik. The firm has confirmed being targeted by a ransomware group by exploiting Rubrik’s GoAnywhere zero-day vulnerability. Fortra, which was known as HelpSystems earlier, had alerted users of the vulnerability on February 1. It even released a patch called CVE-2023-0669 a week later. The ransomware attack on Rubrik was linked to a financially motivated threat group that uses CIOp ransomware. The attackers exploited the vulnerability to get access to information related to GoAnywhere customers and extort them. After the attacks were known to have taken place, the cybercriminals told Bleeping Computer they had attacked more than 130 organisations using the GoAnywhere zero-day exploit.
Interestingly, in spite of the large-scale attacks by hackers, only a few organisations have come forward to report. These include the healthcare provider Community Health Systems and the California-based digital bank Hatch Bank. The Rubrik attack has been confirmed by the CIOp ransomware group on its leak website. The CISO of Rubrik, Michael Mestrovich, stated that the company found out the hackers to have gained access to a limited amount of information in one of its IT testing environments.
No Evidence of a Data Breach?
Upon investigation in partnership with a third-party firm, Rubrik found no evidence of any data breach or lateral movement to other systems. According to Rubrik, the data involved in the attack included certain partner and customer names, purchase orders, and business contact information. The third party did not find any sensitive personal data to have been compromised. The sensitive personal data includes social security numbers, payment card numbers, and financial account numbers.
Apart from Rubrik, the CIOp group of hackers added Hatch Bank’s name to the leak website. They even published screenshots of leaked data from both Hatch Bank and Rubrik that they obtained. They even threatened to leak more data if their demands were not met. According to Ravin Prasad, CEO of Cybernetic Global Intelligence, a global accredited cybersecurity organisation, such attacks can be prevented by adopting better cybersecurity measures. It is just that most companies do not go the whole hog when it comes to shoring up their cybersecurity infrastructure. They are of the mistaken belief that hackers or cybercriminals will not target them. So, what should businesses like yours do when faced with a landscape fraught with such risks? The answer lies in conducting cyber security awareness training to begin with.
How Does Cyber Security Awareness Training Help?
In most cases of hacks, hackers take advantage of the abject ignorance of the employees of an organisation about potential cybersecurity risks. They are able to lure an ignorant insider using phishing or other social engineering measures to get access to information. If only employees were adequately trained in cyber security awareness, a lot of such attacks could be prevented. Simply put, organisations can no longer afford to stay ignorant about the massive damage that an individual employee can bring about.
In cyber security awareness training, employees are made to understand the risks involved and the ways hackers can gain access to the systems and databases. They are told about the best cyber-security practices, and the threats. After the training, preferably by an experienced cybersecurity company, such as Cybernetic Global Intelligence, employees are able to identify threats, avoid making potentially harmful actions, and report threats as soon as they notice them. Any cyber security awareness training can help businesses minimise or eliminate data breach incidents, spread security awareness, protect reputation, prevent financial losses, and secure investment. Besides, organisations can face strict penalties if employees are not taken through cyber security awareness training once or twice a year, courtesy of PCI-DSS, ISO, or NIST.
Remember, everyone in the organisation should attend the training, which should ideally cover the latest cybercrime trends, malware, various types of social engineering, mobile security, password security, remote working, social media safety, privacy, and others. For instance, the cybersecurity awareness training conducted by Cybernetic Global Intelligence covers all the above topics and others, including physical security awareness training. In the latter, employees are trained to recognise and prevent incidents such as theft, tailgating, vandalism, fraud, data protection, and espionage.
Conclusion
The ransomware attack on Rubrik highlighted the vulnerabilities that most organisations are saddled with. Cybersecurity experts such as Ravin Prasad, CEO of Cybernetic Global Intelligence, are cautioning businesses to invest more in cybersecurity measures, including training their employees and other stakeholders. If you want your cybersecurity infrastructure to be robust and sans any vulnerabilities, then choose one of the best cybersecurity services in the world, Cybernetic Global Intelligence. For more information, call us at 1300 292 376 or email us at contact@cybernetic-gi.com.