A cyber security expert in the East Midlands has issued a warning to businesses to remain alert, after reports that opportunist cyber criminals attempted to exploit the recent Crowdstrike global IT outage.
Figures from the leading IT support and cyber security company, Your IT Department, suggest that the number of potential cyber-attacks thwarted for major clients around the time of the Crowdstrike incident rose by nearly a fifth.
Fern Ritchie, a cyber security specialist at the Nottinghamshire-based company said:
“While the Crowdstrike update was not a cyber-attack, it appears that some criminals tried to exploit the chaos, and the subsequent window of urgency, to try to gain a foothold into some computer networks.”
Your IT Department – recently named No.1 in the Midlands among companies providing managed IT services – reported more than 170 prevented cyber-attacks among its top 20 clients during the week of the Crowdstrike incident. That’s up by 21% compared with the previous week.
On Friday 19th July, a routine software update from Crowdstrike, a leading cyber security company, caused a major issue affecting an estimated 8.5million Windows computers. The update included a coding mistake, leading to disruption for many businesses around the world.
Added Fern:
“Unfortunately, the figures suggest that cyber criminals were trying to take advantage of the situation by using malicious software (malware) attached to files with Crowdstrike-themed names, to try to trick users into thinking they were legitimate fixes.”
One of the methods involved a phishing email containing a PDF purporting to explain how to remediate the problem – but it contained a file laced with malware.
“There’s no doubt that attackers are getting smarter and cyber threats are becoming more sophisticated and potentially damaging,”
said Fern.
“Criminals can try to manipulate accounts, exploit software weaknesses and even trick employees into giving them access.
“It’s crucial that businesses have measures in place to guard against these types of threats which may appear again in the future.”
Image: Cyber Security Team Leader at Your IT Department, Fern Ritchie.
www.your-itdepartment.co.uk