Cyber Security Warning!

The ‘Wanna Cry’ malware has caused havoc mostly in the Northern Hemisphere, but it did penetrate Australia early on Monday 15th May.

As of lunchtime, the numbers are still quite concerning as it gains traction – 200,000 infected computers in 150 countries!  BUT, the conservative estimates by the Cyber Security experts puts the costs in Australia at more than $1 Billion annually  ..  ouch.

What it has done is to re-focus attention to Cyber Security, which we so often comment on in our weekly Info Bytes. It has also highlighted the power and benefit of the Rainmaker Managed IT (RMIT) solution.  To target systems, requires anomalies to be found in operating systems with poor security.  The RMIT system is designed to ensure a variety of updates at multiple levels which are checked for authenticity and then deployed across the network so that machines from Servers to Desktops can be kept up to date automatically from the data centre with a minimum of fuss.

It also enabled us last night to quickly check all computers and servers on the network and highlight 6 machines that had a potential exposure.  Yes, we are not immune to the attacks, but hopefully our engineering is better and smarter than those trying to extort us all.  It certainly brings the focus to monitoring, both manual and automated of the reports available from the Network on a daily basis and it emphasises the need for a structured pro-active approach to network security, which is part of the monthly static billing which at times like this, is certainly invaluable.  The explanation is that one machine had limited drive space, one had a SQL service pack issue and the others had corrupted update files and none were a serious threat.  It does of course reinforce the need to reboot computers regularly to ensure the updates are installed.

 

Not only do we depend on the updates being up to date, but it is also the engineering behind the scenes, like Shadow Protect and the backup regimes which form extra layers of defence to the networks and provide the ‘Get out of Jail free cards’ if things really go pear shaped.  All this and the continued call to have quality physical networks (the poles and wires) is vitally important to security.

For our many clients not on the RMIT network, please ensure your system updates and patches have been applied and if you have any doubts or concerns please contact us so that it can be checked.  Many of you will have hardware based firewalls, but the reality is that all parts of the computing process need to be working correctly to provide the best protection.

Please tell your friends and associates that there are products available to protect networks and data from the costly and time consuming effects of these Cyber Crimes.

If you have any concerns regarding your cyber security
please give us a call on (02) 44742477