In 2020, a major cyberattack by a group backed by a foreign government penetrated thousands of organizations globally including multiple parts of the United States federal government, leading to a series of data breaches.
The cyberattack and data breach were reported to be among the worst cyber-espionage incidents ever suffered by the U.S., due to the sensitivity and high profile of the targets and the long duration (eight to nine months) in which the hackers had access
The US energy department confirmed it was been breached in what was described as the worst-ever hack on the US government.
The department is responsible for managing US nuclear weapons, but said the arsenal’s security had not been compromised.
Tech giant Microsoft also said that it had found malicious software in its systems.
Many suspect the Russian government is responsible. but ofcourse denied it.
America’s top cyber agency, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency (Cisa), gave a stark warning on then, saying that addressing the intrusion would be “highly complex and challenging”.
It said “critical infrastructure” had been damaged, federal agencies and private sector companies compromised, and that the damage posed a “grave threat”.
The hack began in at least March 2020, and those responsible had “demonstrated patience, operational security, and complex tradecraft”, the Cisa said.
Then About 18,000 private and government users downloaded a Russian tainted software update — a Trojan horse of sorts — that gave its hackers a foothold into victims’ systems, according to SolarWinds, the company whose software was compromised.
Reasons behind cyber attacks
Cyber attacks against businesses are often deliberate and motivated by financial gain. However, other motivations may include:
* Making a social or political point – eg through hactivism
* Espionage – eg spying on competitors for unfair advantage
* Intellectual challenge – eg ‘white hat’ hacking
Most often, cyber attacks happen because criminals want your:
* Business’ financial details
* Customers’ financial details (eg credit card data)
* Sensitive personal data
* Customers’ or staff email addresses and login credentials
* Customer databases
* Clients lists
* IT infrastructure /IT services (eg the ability to accept online payments)
* Intellectual property (eg trade secrets or product designs)
Business partners, clients, suppliers and contractors with access to your business-critical assets can also present risk.
In order to manage cyber risk, regardless of its source, you should fully understand the range of motivations behind possible attacks. You should also know where and how to report a cyber crime, if it does happen to your business.
