Sadly, it was bound to happen. A woman in Düsseldorf, Germany, has died as a result of a ransomware attack. The 78-year-old victim was to receive critical care at Düsseldorf University Hospital, but the attack had disabled the hospital’s systems. The hospital was forced to reroute her to another facility 19 miles away, delaying her health care by an hour. It is the first known fatality linked to cybercrime.
Cybersecurity
Many people equate cybersecurity with firewalls, intrusion prevention systems and other tools that are used to protect the IT environment. But technology alone can’t prevent a security breach. On the contrary, people are the most important element in any cybersecurity program.
Data encryption has become the primary means of maintaining the privacy of Internet communications. According to data released in April 2020 by Statistica, 63 percent of organizations use the Transport Layer Security (TLS) and Secure Socket Layer (SSL) cryptographic protocols extensively. Another 23 percent use them partially.
The cybersecurity skills gap continues to plague organizations of all sizes. According to ISACA’s State of Cybersecurity 2020 Part 1 report, 62 percent of organizations say their cybersecurity team is understaffed, and 57 percent say they have unfilled cybersecurity positions. There doesn’t seem to be much hope for relieving this shortage - 70 percent say that more than half of applicants for cybersecurity positions lack needed qualifications.
Ransomware, phishing scams, malicious email attachments, hacker attacks — the list of potential cybersecurity threats just continues to grow. Most experts agree that it’s a matter of when, not if, an organization will be the target of a cyberattack.
