Over the weekend, a cyber attack affected more than 200,000 computers in at least 150 countries.
The attack was first detected on Friday, May 12, 2017, and it started to grow throughout the weekend, affecting businesses worldwide, including the U.K.’s National Health Service.
The infected computers left users locked out of their computers, unable to access anything.
The only thing that users could access was a prompt from the hackers that demanded ransoms of as little as $300 in digital currency Bitcoin. The hackers claimed that users would regain access to their computers and data if the ransoms were paid.
The attack has been called a couple of different things: WannaCry, WannaCrypt, Wana Decryptor, and WCry. Regardless of what people are calling it, this malware caused a global disturbance.
It took advantage of computers that were running on Microsoft’s Windows operating system that weren’t updated with the latest security patch.
The malware is being linked to a vulnerability that was identified by the NSA a while ago, but nothing was done about it.
It wasn’t until a month ago that a group called Shadow Brokers exposed the vulnerability — giving the hackers the incentive to create their malware.
Our Data Is Vulnerable
Technology is constantly evolving, which means a lot more data exists in the world today than it did a few years ago. And for some naive reason, we’re not increasing the security that’s needed to protect that data.
Frankly, we’re being careless.
And maybe that’s because it seems like nothing too terrible will ever happen… but why wait until it does? Why wait until millions (probably billions) of people’s information have already been compromised?
For some reason, cybersecurity hasn’t been taken too seriously on either a national or global level. And it really needs to be a top priority, because we depend on and trust that the devices we use every day are secure.
I’m not saying that cybersecurity doesn’t exist at all. Yes, there are firms out there who are doing a great job at protecting data. But in the grand scheme of things, cybersecurity doesn’t play a big enough role.
It’s not treated as a necessity, but it should be.
Staying Secure in Today’s World
Technology has been doing amazing things to make our lives more convenient. On the other hand, that advancement leaves us with more insecurity that should be taken into consideration.
Here’s one (almost real-life) example: Imagine you’re driving around in a driverless car and a hacker hacks into the software that’s used to operate the car… talk about losing complete control. That’s a really scary situation that you don’t want to have to deal with, but it could definitely be preventable with more security to the vehicle’s software.
The WannaCry attack has made us face a major reality — it’s time that we take a better look at how we protect ourselves against future attacks. We can’t allow criminals to compromise our valuable data and technology.
Cybersecurity is a crucial component when ensuring our data will be secured. Companies like FireEye (NASDAQ: FEYE), CyberArk Software (NASDAQ: CYBR), and Palo Alto Networks (NYSE: PANW) have the ability to give us that assurance.
Take a quick look at what happened to FireEye’s stock on Friday, May 12, 2017. When the news of the attack came out, FireEye closed the day at $14.77 and by Monday morning, it opened with $15.60 — a 5.6% increase.
The news of the WannaCry attack has opened the eyes of people, governments, and businesses worldwide. We’re not invincible; if we don’t do something now and increase efforts toward securing data, we’ll likely see future attacks that could do even more harm.
Until next time,
Jennifer Clark
Pro Trader Today