Cybercrime has been on the rise for years now, and to make it worse, the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 just fueled the situation. Those who were expecting relief from the increasing terror of cybercrimes in 2021 are to be disappointed as the number of attacks is only increasing day after day.
We just crossed the first quarter of 2021 and already several huge cyberattacks have made the headlines. Here is a list of some of the major cyberattacks that took place in Q1 2021:
#1 Channel Nine
Australian broadcaster Channel Nine was hit by a cyberattack on 28th March 2021, which rendered the channel unable to air its Sunday news bulletin and several other shows.
#2 Harris Federation
In March 2021, the London-based Harris Federation suffered a ransomware attack and was forced to “temporarily” disable the devices and email systems of all the 50 secondary and primary academies it manages. This resulted in over 37,000 students being unable to access their coursework and correspondence.
#3 CNA Financial
One of the biggest cyber insurance firms in the US CNA Financial suffered a ransomware attack on 21st March 2021. The cyberattack disrupted the organization’s customer and employee services for three days as CNA was forced to shut down to prevent further compromise.
#4 Florida Water System
A cybercriminal attempted to poison the water supply in Florida and managed by increasing the amount of sodium hydroxide to a potentially dangerous level. The cybercriminal was able to breach Oldsmar’s computer system and briefly increased the amount of sodium hydroxide from 100 parts per million to 11,100 parts per million.
#5 Microsoft Exchange Mass Cyber Attack
A mass cyberattack affected millions of Microsoft clients around the globe, wherein threat actors actively exploited four zero-day vulnerabilities in Microsoft’s Exchange Server. It is believed that nine government agencies, as well as over 60,000 private companies in the US alone, were affected by the attack.
#6 Airplane Manufacturer Bombardier
A popular Canadian plane manufacturer, Bombardier, suffered a data breach in February 2021. The breach resulted in the compromise of the confidential data of suppliers, customers, and around 130 employees located in Costa Rica. The investigation revealed that an unauthorized party had gained access to the data by exploiting a vulnerability in a third-party file-transfer application. Also, the stolen data was leaked on the site operated by the Clop ransomware gang.
#7 Computer Maker Acer
The globally renowned computer giant Acer suffered a ransomware attack and was asked to pay a ransom of $50 million, which made the record of the largest known ransom to date.
#8 University of the Highlands and Islands
A cyber attack targeted the University of the Highlands and Islands (UHI), forcing the university to close all its 13 colleges and research institutions to students for a day.
#9 Sierra Wireless
On 20th March 2021, the multinational IoT device manufacturer Sierra Wireless was hit by a ransomware attack against its internal IT systems and had to halt production at its manufacturing sites.
“This ransomware attack highlights the complexity and far-reaching damage of a B2B data breach. As evidenced by this and many other recent ransomware attacks, it’s no longer an issue of just whether or not to pay the ransom. It’s important to adopt a proactive and threat-informed approach to security strategy that allows for an organization to know it can thwart ransomware attacks.”
Stephan Chenette, Co-Founder & CTO of AttackIQ
#10 Accellion Supply Chain Attack
Security software provider Accellion fell victim to a breach targeting its file transfer system FTA. Many of its clients were affected by the breach. Some high-profile organizations that got caught in the crossfire include grocery giant Kroger, telecom industry leader Singtel, the University of Colorado, cybersecurity firm Qualys, and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC). A lot of confidential and sensitive data stolen from various companies by exploiting the vulnerabilities in Accellion’s FTA tool was leaked online.
Pravica is Transforming Cybersecurity Through Blockchain
Headlines remind us daily that our use of technology is fraught with opportunity and risk. The advent of the internet and other information and communications technologies has fostered economic growth, modernized industry, and simplified daily life. At the same time, consumers feel less secure in their engagements online, which is contributing to a growing distrust of technology.
Pravica empowers users to control their own digital identity, share data and communicate with each other securely with trust and privacy. Your digital identity cannot be attacked, and nothing can fail.
Moreover, on top of the implementation of a secure and decentralized trust model of Pravica’s encrypted digital identities (the public keys), users have access to a complete ecosystem based on the STX token and smart contracts on the Blockchain — which will facilitate secure transactions of subscription services and incentives to participants.
Now you can create a virtual identity and user management infrastructure in a user-centric privacy-based manner to extend the privacy environment offering through Pravica.
Decentralized identity owned by the user is a persistent way to manage user authentication, data sharing, wallet custody, and identity validations without the use of third-party infrastructure.
Source: Security Boulevard
