What the MGM attack means to smaller companies
Yes, the MGM attack was a big one, and these are the ones we always hear about, but what actually happened and why should your business be concerned?
The MGM Hotel and Entertainment Resorts were hit by a serious cyber-attack that morphed into a ransomware attack. But the interesting thing is that it started with a social engineering attack.
A group known as Scattered Spider found an MGM employee on LinkedIn and proceeded to impersonate him, calling into the service desk to ask for a reset of their account. The help desk did so granting the hacker group access to the MGM system. From there they proceeded to plant ransomware in many of the systems and blocked access to Internal networks, ATM machines, slot machines, room key cards and electronic payment systems.
This is important to you as social engineering is now becoming more and more of a threat to all business large and small, and you need to know how to deal with it.
Here are 4 things to consider in protecting your business from Social Engineering:
- Always have MFA installed on all company software.
This will block a hacker from just changing a password and accessing your systems. If they do not have the MFA code, they can’t get in. - Check that email.
It may look like it is from that person but is it really? Learn how to recognize impersonated emails - Take your company cyber training seriously.
Most companies now use cyber training software. Many of them deliver weekly training (usually a short video followed by a questionnaire, this should only take 5 to 10 minutes of your day and can save your company from falling victim to a cyber-attack - Consider a verification method.
There are many ways to do this from a simple text message to more sophisticated software, talk to your IT company about how you can set up a method to verify who is requesting access or password resets.
As always if you have questions or concerns, please reach out to us at (520)751-0888 or services@acaciait.com
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Greg Durnan is the Owner/President of AcaciaIT and very active in the business community of Southern Arizona. One of the founding members of the Greater Vail Area Chamber of Commerce and Chairman of the Oro Valley Chamber of Commerce. He is very passionate about the needs of businesses in Arizona. He also strives to educate clients on Computer and Network Security through Lunch and Learns, articles, and webinars.
On the weekends he enjoys spending time with his wife and son at their ranch in Vail and working with horses.