This week in class, we are learning about monitoring, auditing, and logging. It is a very important part of cyber security, though often underestimated. Not every day can be updating systems, sometimes it's just watching the network and making sure nothing suspicious is happening. Unfortunately for this British company named KNP, something suspicious happened. Before they knew what was wrong, they got a ransom note and couldn't afford the amount they needed to pay. That was the end of KNP for good.
KNP has existed for 158 years, yet never faced this problem. The article by the BBC states that the loss of their company occurred due to one weak password. One weak password put 700 people out of work. While I wouldn't consider that a particularly large company, that's a big mistake. Imagine if your coworker had a bad password and that made you lose your job. That would make me angry. Though these ransom attacks are apparently a growing trend in the UK, they are struggling to work against them. There are multiple security agencies at work there in the UK, including MI6, MI5, and NCSC. Despite that, the company was lost.
The articles goes on to talk about the power of cyber security in companies, and how they determine their fate. It seems that cyber security professionals in the UK are worried that there aren't enough regulations for companies to protect their data from these organized crime hackers.
In the end, the lesson I learned from this is that you can never stop advocating for strong password and security awareness. I'll never stop telling my friends, family, and coworkers to at least try and have secure passwords. Because if all it takes is just one weak password... maybe we all need to help remind each other to make the world a safer place.
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- Nicole Golden