Page 6 THE REVERE ADVOCATE – FRIDAY, JUNE 11, 2021 AG Healey urges businesses and government agencies to take immediate steps to protect against ransomware attacks I n response to an alarming increase in the frequency and impact of ransomware $2.39 GALLON We accept: MasterCard * Visa * & Discover Price Subject to Change without notice 100 Gal. Min. 24 Hr. Service 781-286-2602 attacks across public and private sectors, Attorney General Maura Healey is urging members of the business community and government entities in Massachusetts, including law enforcement agencies, to immediately assess their existing data security practices and take appropriate steps to upgrade security measures to protect their operations and consumer information. Healey’s advisory follows a memo from the Biden-Harris Administration discussing the urgent threat ransomware poses to American businesses and government entities with suggestions to mitigate its impact. “Leaders from the public and private sectors have an important and critical responsibility Everett Aluminum 10 Everett Ave., Everett 617-389-3839 Owned & operated by the Conti family since 1958 • 57 Years! “Same name, phone number & address for family since 1958 • 62 over half a century. 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Ransomware actors often target and threaten to sell or leak exfiltrated data or authentication information if the ransom is not paid. Ransomware attacks are constantly evolving and on the rise. Just last week at The Steamship Authority in Massachusetts, ransomware caused massive disruption to its ticketing and reservation systems. An attack on JBS S.A., a Brazilian company known as the world’s largest meat processing company, led to production shutdowns and lost profits and wages. Last month a criminal group employed ransomware to lock the systems of Colonial Pipeline, a pipeline operator for the East Coast, causing a multiday operational shutdown and leading to a spike in gas prices, panic buying and localized fuel shortages in the southeast. On June 2, Anne Neuberger, Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Advisor for Cyber and Emerging Technology, issued a memo titled “What We Urge You To Do To Protect Against The Threat of Ransomware,” with the following recommendations: Implement the five best practices from the President’s Executive Order: President Biden’s Improving the Nation’s Cybersecurity Executive Order outlines fi ve, high-impact, best practices to safeguard networks: multifactor authentication (because passwords alone are routinely compromised), endpoint detection & response (to hunt for malicious activity on a network and block it), encryption (so if data is stolen, it is unusable) and a skilled, empowered security team (to patch rapidly and share and incorporate threat information in your defenses). These practices will signifi cantly reduce the risk of a successful cyberattack: • Backup your data, system images and confi gurations; regularly test them and keep the backups offl ine: Ensure that backups are regularly tested and that they are not connected to the business network, as many ransomware variants try to fi nd and encrypt or delete accessible backups. Maintaining current backups offl ine is critical because if your network data is encrypted with ransomware, your organization can restore systems. • Update and patch systems promptly: This includes maintaining the security of operating systems, applications and fi rmware in a timely manner. Consider using a centralized patch management system; use a risk-based assessment strategy to drive your patch management program. • Test your incident response plan: There’s nothing that shows the gaps in plans more than testing them. Run through some core questions and use those to build an incident response plan: Are you able to sustain business operations without access to certain systems? For how long? Would you turn off your manufacturing operations if business systems, such as billing, were offl ine? • Check your security team’s work: Use a tester to test the security of your systems and your ability to defend against a sophisticated attack. Many ransomware criminals are aggressive and sophisticated and will fi nd the equivalent of unlocked doors. SECURITY | SEE Page 35 Spring!
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