Cybersecurity Is Never Out-of-office: Protecting Your Business Anytime, Anywhere

Business Security

While you're enjoying nan vacation season, cybercriminals could beryllium gearing up for their adjacent large onslaught – make judge your company's defenses are ready, nary matter nan clip of year

18 Dec 2024  •  , 4 min. read

The festive holidays are almost here. Pretty soon, galore of america will beryllium sticking connected our “out of office” and settling successful for a fewer days of well-earned rest. But nan aforesaid is not needfully existent of threat actors. In fact, they whitethorn spy a cleanable opportunity to discuss your IT systems if nan firm information squad is besides apt to beryllium spending clip pinch friends and family. It has happened galore times before, especially pinch ransomware attacks.

That’s why your statement needs a coherent scheme for managing cybersecurity 24/7 passim nan year, including crossed nan full festive period. Putting successful spot nan correct people, processes and exertion to mitigate cyber-risk is critical.

While you were sleeping

While big-name breaches proceed to make nan headlines pinch alarming regularity, nan macro-trend is of ransomware costs rates declining. Research reveals that astir a 3rd (36%) of victims elected to salary successful Q2 2024, down from astir 80% 5 years previously. This intends that, erstwhile it comes to ransomware astatine least, threat actors are ever looking for caller ways to make their attacks much effective. And launching those attacks during nationalist holidays, astatine nighttime and/or astatine nan play is nan cleanable measurement to do so.

One study claims that ransomware attacks summation by 30% during nationalist holidays and weekends. Another reveals that 89% of information professionals are concerned astir specified an eventuality. A third claims that astir ransomware attacks now occur betwixt nan hours of 1am and 5am section time, arsenic cybercriminals look to execute nan aforesaid extremity end – catching nan unfortunate statement understaffed and unawares.

There are plentifulness of historical examples of ransomware attacks occurring during nationalist holidays:

• The Colonial Pipeline breach by nan DarkSide ransomware group occurred successful May 2021 during nan lead-in to nan Mother’s Day play successful nan US. It resulted successful a week-long operational outage and substance shortages up and down nan East coast
• The monolithic ransomware onslaught against nutrient elephantine JBS occurred complete nan Memorial Day weekend, forcing nan patient to salary an $11m ransom
• A Fourth of July vacation play onslaught by nan Sodinokibi/REvil ransomware group targeted MSP package supplier Kaseya, impacting 2,000 downstream customers successful 17 countries

Yet it’s not conscionable cybercrime that information leaders must deliberation astir during nan festive season. There’s besides nan possibility, albeit rarer, of state-sponsored attacks. It should beryllium remembered that nan countries wherever galore attacks originate, from China and North Korea to Russia and Iran, either don’t observe Christmas aliases do truthful astatine a different clip to nan West.

Why it matters

For businesses that are typically engaged during nan festive vacation period, for illustration retailers, hospitality firms and storage operators, a superior cyberattack could person a important effect connected nan bottommost statement and firm reputation. But nan truth is that immoderate statement could suffer.

Put simply, nan longer it takes you to respond to a ransomware threat, nan much apt it is that your adversary is capable to bargain ample quantities of delicate data, and perchance moreover deploy a ransomware payload. Ransomware groups continue to get faster astatine moving from first entree to encryption and information exfiltration. Add successful nan other clip needed to get information squad members into nan agency and/or online, and you person a imaginable look for disaster.

Even if cardinal squad members do get to nan agency successful speedy time, they whitethorn not beryllium capable to thief much. One study claims that 71% of information professionals admit being intoxicated erstwhile responding to a ransomware attacks astatine nan play aliases during holidays. A superior out-of-hours breach could:

• Impact unit productivity (assuming location are labor moving successful different regions complete nan period)
• Significantly disrupt production/business operations
• Take public-facing sites offline, reducing profits and damaging nan brand
• Invite regulatory scrutiny and create compliance challenges

Ransomware is by acold nan only threat facing your statement this festive period. Other risks you whitethorn request to mitigate include:

• Phishing and targeted information theft
• Business email discuss (BEC)
• DDoS attacks – particularly important for retailers astatine this clip of year

Mitigating Christmas play cyber risk

According to one study, 37% of organizations don’t person contingency plans successful spot to respond to ransomware attacks astatine play and during vacation periods. And acknowledgment to distant working, cyber threats could theoretically hap astatine immoderate time, including non-traditional agency hours, particularly if your statement spans different clip zones.

Consider nan pursuing tips to mitigate nan consequence of a festive information breach:

• Continuous, automated risk-based patching to reduce nan onslaught surface
• Penetration tests to cheque for vulnerabilities earlier nan festive break
• Mandating multi-factor authentication (MFA) and beardown unsocial passwords (ideally stored successful a password manager) to mitigate phishing and log-in threats
• Data encryption, truthful that moreover if hackers scope your Crown Jewels, they will not beryllium capable to monetize immoderate stolen data
• Processes successful spot to mitigate BEC risk (such arsenic having astatine slightest 2 group motion disconnected connected immoderate money transfers)
• Ensure suppliers are audited and held to nan aforesaid information standards arsenic your organization
• Have an incident consequence scheme successful spot successful lawsuit of a vacation breach, truthful that everyone knows their roles and responsibilities
• Multi-layered information package covering endpoint, email, server and cloud
• Training and consciousness programs to guarantee unit tin spot phishing attempts and understand rules astir unafraid remote working
• Have a scheme successful spot for escalating information incidents to cardinal personnel, moreover if they're connected holiday

Cybercriminals are a wished bunch, pinch nary respect for nan vacation schedule of your information team. You’re amended disconnected readying for nan worst-case script today, than risking it and perchance exposing your statement to a Christmas break from hell.