Uber data hack is a reminder criminals are targeting your business. Today
Does anyone rob banks any more?
It just seems such an old fashioned way for criminals to make money. When you consider that last year Uber gave some hackers $100,000 not to use the data they’d just stolen from the giant taxi company.
Uber’s recent admission that it had personal details of 57 million customers and drivers stolen is major news. Yet there will be other hacks reported in the months ahead.
Earlier in the year the NHS was held hostage by hackers, causing more than 6,900 appointments – including some operations – to be cancelled.
Data theft has become big business. Either stealing it. Or locking it and charging a fee for its release.
It would be easy to sit back and think your business is too small to be targeted. But sorry, you can no longer be that complacent.
As a busy IT support business, we’re right at the coalface of helping local businesses to protect themselves from attacks. And there’s a horrifying amount of activity from people trying to get into computers they really shouldn’t.
This is a big deal. It’s not just about data. It’s about trust.
Because when data is stolen from a company you deal with, it breaches your trust in that business. Trust is won slowly, and lost quickly.
And from May next year, it’ll also be about the law. The General Data Protection Regulation – GDPR – comes into effect.
The main aim is to give individuals a greater level of control over their personal data. Which means that all companies who hold any customer information will be subject to strict rules.
And penalties for this kind of data breach will become more severe…
While we don’t yet know exactly what happened with the Uber hack, typically hackers get into a system through one of a number of ways
- Phishing: Your staff accidentally allow hackers in, perhaps by clicking a dodgy link in an email
- Neglect: Operating systems and software quickly get out-of-date, or haven’t had the latest security patches updated
- Stupidity: Accidental loss of data by a member of staff. Like leaving a USB stick or laptop on a train
I would hate to see your business suffer the reputational and profit damage that Uber is about to suffer.
So, a question: Can we perform an extensive security audit on your system please, just to be absolutely sure there are no easy opportunities waiting for a hacker?
Of course there will be a charge for this audit. But we’d rather know exactly what potential problems are lurking, so we can fix them.
Wouldn’t you?
Call our team now on 0845 582 8080