Texas ransomware attacks show big gaps in cyber defenses — expect more like them
Summary
Indeed, smaller towns and cities are "largely under-funded, and live on what we call the edge of existence in terms of cyber," said George Simonds, president of cybersecurity company InfraShield and founder of the International Critical Infrastructure Security Institute. The attacks shut down health-care services by Britains NHS, hobbled the logistics operations of shipping giant AP Moeller-Maersk and stymied the production of the HPV vaccine by drugmaker Merck, among a slew of other case studies. These attacks netted a relatively paltry profit for the instigators and are largely believed to have served as a way to spread chaos rather than obtain funds. For years, government pundits have warned that nation-state attackers, whether from Iran, Russia or China, could directly take down one of the countrys critical industries, often through supposedly highly sophisticated processes and long-term hacks. "The fact that we are seeing an acceleration of attacks that are reportedly successful tells me that we have not prepared," said Eddie Habibi, CEO of industrial systems security company PAS Global.