News and Updates on Information Technology

United States – Synoptek

Exploit: Ransomware
Synoptek: Cloud hosting and IT management company

Risk to Small Business: 2.111 = Severe: A phishing scam-enabled ransomware attack brought an early, unwanted Christmas present to Synoptek’s employees and more than 1,100 enterprise customers around the world. The attack disrupted many services, and Synoptek paid a ransom demand in an attempt to restore operations. Synoptek endured serious customer scrutiny as companies impacted by the network outages took to Twitter and Reddit to complain about the company. In addition, Synoptek is being ridiculed for a December 20th tweet encouraging companies to be vigilant about guarding against phishing scams, a message sent just days before a company employee fell for a phishing scam that instigated the ransomware attack.

Individual Risk: No personal information was compromised in the breach.

Customers Impacted: Unknown

How it Could Affect Your Customers’ Business:Ransomware attacks are uniquely expensive, bringing hefty recovery and opportunity costs that are compounded by the less-quantifiable reputational damage that accompanies an attack. However, they aren’t as inevitable as many people think, as these malware attacks always require a foothold. In this case, a phishing scam allowed hackers to access to company’s system and infect its network. Since the consequences of a ransomware attack are enormous, every company has millions of reasons to put their best foot forward to defend against this increasingly common cyber attack.

Source: https://krebsonsecurity.com/2019/12/ransomware-at-it-services-provider-synoptek/

Risk Levels:
1 – 1.5 = Extreme Risk
1.51 – 2.49 = Severe Risk
2.5 – 3 = Moderate Risk
*The risk score is calculated using a formula that considers a wide range of factors related to the assessed breach.