While many think of cybersecurity as protecting hackers from stealing information such as passwords, bank accounts, etc., it also includes protecting medical facilities. For example, a recent cyber-attack targeted one of the largest COVID-19 testing hospitals in the Czech Republic, shutting down all of their computer servers. It was suspected to be a ransomware attack, an attack which holds data “hostage” until a specific payoff, or ransom is paid.They were forced to move patients to other hospitals and cease operations. This is dangerous because it restricts doctors’ abilities to do their jobs and may put lives at risk. Furthermore, with the vast majority of people who who are now teleworking because of coronavirus, many security systems are put at risk. This includes federal employees who have access to sensitive government data which foreign adversaries would gladly exploit.
Due to the stay-at-home orders and closed borders, companies such as Netflix and YouTube have lowered the quality of video streaming in order to reduce strain on internet servers. This influx in internet usage gives rise to the potential for DDoS attacks. DDoS stands for distributed-denial-of-service and occurs when a network is flooded with so much traffic that it crashes and is deemed inoperable. According to leaked Russian documents, they are in the process of developing a DDoS capable botnet. “These botnets harness the computing power of millions of internet-connected things, direct them to spew random data at specific computers, and overwhelm vital services into uselessness,”… “The documents say ‘An attack on national DNS [Domain Name System] servers can make the Internet inaccessible for several hours in a small country.'”
“There are 10 types of people in this world; those who understand binary and those who don’t.” – Anonymous
Unwind_My_Mind 