#33 – Hackers Exploiting Covid19 – How to Keep Your Small Business Protected

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EFFECTED USERS: Any small business owner, especially if you store personal or private information for your clients (like Doctors offices or law firms).

Hair of fire 3 of 5

SUMMARY: Covid19 is terrible, killing people, and causing pain. One side effect is a general sense of kindness. More patient with each other on the phone, more courteous if we do have to go out in the world, more thankful to the work of first responders, etc. Not so with Hackers.

A good example of this is an article that appeared in Fortune Magazine this month showing how morally vacant hackers can be.

When hackers broke into computers at Hammersmith Medicines Research, a London-based company that carries out clinical trials for new medicines, it was a nightmare scenario for managing director Malcolm Boyce.

The coronavirus crisis was just beginning to take hold in the U.K., and the company was in talks with other firms about potentially testing a vaccine. The hackers used encryption to lock down thousands of the company’s patient records and promised to publish them online if a ransom wasn’t paid. SOURCE: Fortune Magazine

Think about this: Hammersmith may produce a vaccine that could save the life of someone in the hacker’s family – even the hacker himself. But the hacker did not care about anything but profit. Computer skills, minus a conscience, equals unique depravity.

The point is, if a hacker can target a firm that is trying to help us all, they can target your company. All that matters to them is money.

Here with me today to talk about this is:

Konstantine Zuckerman is the CEO CYBRI a US-based cybersecurity company offering products and services to help small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) detect critical vulnerabilities in their systems and networks.

Q: What do you see happening in the market regarding SMB and cybersecuity?