In this day and age, it has never been more important to keep on top of your cybersecurity. Malicious businesses and individuals alike are becoming more skilled at hacking into systems and putting your data and company at risk.
One such example happened on February the 8th 2021. The City of Oldsmar in Florida gave a press conference in which they talked of an “unlawful intrusion to the city’s water treatment system”.
It turned out that someone was able to successfully hack into the system and take over the controls that are in charge of the chemicals which are added into the drinking water for the city. They altered the levels of sodium hydroxide from the usual 100 ppm to 1,100 parts per million.
Being a corrosive chemical, this large increase could have been toxic and caused damage to the tissues of those that drank that water. Fortunately, the attack was discovered immediately and the water levels were reset back to normal before it could harm any of the city’s residents.
Luckily advanced security controls including automated pH testing levels mean that the water wouldn’t have reached people to cause harm, however, the incident highlighted the importance of keeping all systems secure and protected from malicious attacks.
The attack happened because someone managed to connect to the TeamViewer software that controls the water treatment process. TeamViewer is software that is widely used by support teams to access computers and control them from a remote location – such as when extra technical help is needed.
It has left many wondering just why there weren’t adequate security protocols in place to prevent this sort of thing from occurring. For a company that is in charge of something that can severely impact the health and wellbeing of thousands of people, it must be properly protected.
They have been praised for being so open and honest about the attack and it is this which could hopefully prevent it from happening again in the future.
How can you protect yourself and your business from this happening?
There are many ways that you can protect your business from something like this happening in the future. This includes:
Multi-Factor Authentication
Enabling multi-factor authentication means that you will need to add in two pieces of information to access a system or program. This could include a password and a code sent to a number on your phone.
Cloud Data Storage
By storing data on the cloud you are protected from anyone who might gain access to your computer. It also means if your systems should go down, that your data is safe and your downtime is significantly reduced.
Firewalls
Having adequate firewalls in place means that any potential attacks are stopped in their tracks and your data and information are safe.
Managed Services Provider
A Managed Service Provider is the best way of keeping your data safe. They are an outsourced IT company that will ensure you are protected and manage your systems for you.