Businesses and individuals alike should be especially vigilant for scams and hacks by Russian vectors at the moment, according to Managing Director of cyber security company, Digital Pathways.
Whilst there is nothing new about the idea of the โbad guysโ trying to attack systems byย phishing, ransomeware, trojan horse attacks or malware worms, the current situation, due to the Russian aggression against Ukraine, may increase the number of cyber-attacks that we are likely to see.
This is especially so for the Banking Industry due to the blocking of Russia from the international online payments banking system, SWIFT.ย It is likely that Russia and its allies may look to retaliate, targeting banks, other companies as well as individuals.
โMy adviceโ, says Tankard, โis to be extra vigilant now, especially around passwords protectingย clientโsย personal details. Always check a senderโs URL.ย Make sure it is bona fide by hovering over the link and checking it thoroughly.ย Be aware that any using the suffix โ.ruโ is Russian, and definitely, do not open attachments unless you are sure they are safe to do so.ย Just hit the delete button!
โIf you are unsure about an attachment there are a number of websites such as VirusTotal –ย https://www.virustotal.comย where you can paste in a link or upload a file to be scanned for anything nasty.
โProtect yourself with security software. ย For a small annual fee,ย this software will block any hostile application from launching or will block an unusual outbound connection from a computer or server. Also, any file which is found to be malicious will be quarantined, and any other machine connected to the same network will be alerted for the same file, so any spread is contained immediately.
โBut of course, make sureย anything you buyย are not products of any Russian security company.
โAs always, back up everything, regularlyโ.
It is important that all businesses and individuals are aware of the likely increase in cyber-attacks at the moment and take all necessary steps to stop them.
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