The ALS Group Risk Management Articles

Cisco has released the 2016 Midyear Cybersecurity Report and their findings point to future, more sophisticated types of ransomware that will take full advantage of systems with less than satisfactory security measures, patching practices, and detection rates.

Another hack of a big name corporation has hit the news. CiCis Pizza the victim this time. Over 135 CiCis locations were hit with malware on their Point of Sale (“POS”) system, causing a breach of customer credit card numbers. After several locations reported issues with their POS system, the POS vendor began an investigation that uncovered malware that had been present on some systems as far back as July 2015. A statement on the CiCis website notes: “Not all payment cards used at the affected restaurant locations were compromised; however, some information from some payment cards used in such locations may have been accessed by the malware.” – Not

Former Major League Baseball director of scouting for the St. Louis Cardinals, Christopher Correa, has been sentenced to 46 months in prison for hacking the scouting records and email system of the Houston Astros. Correa “repeatedly viewed confidential information” on the Astros scouting database using “sophisticated means” to hide his identity. Correa’s actions violated the “Computer Fraud and Abuse Act” Federal Law, which prohibits unauthorized access into another business’s computer with the intent to steal data from that computer. Hence, the lengthy sentence. However, the important piece of information to note here is how Correa gained access to the Astros database.

The Pokemon Go phenomena is real. Players of the mobile device augmented reality “scavenger hunt” app are out on the streets in droves hunting down Pikachu, Psyduck, Bulbasaur, Charmander and other elusive Nintendo based cartoon characters. Chances are you or someone you know is playing the game…don’t lie, you’re playing it aren’t you? The mobile game developed by Nintendo partner Niantic has caused Nintendo’s stock to jump 36% adding $7 billion to its market cap.

In several of my most recent “Cyber Tuesday” posts, I’ve discussed the importance of developing a comprehensive cyber risk mitigation strategy which includes IT security measures, well thought out incident response, business continuity documentation and cyber insurance. A recent ransomware event at the University of Calgary shifted the focus to the cyber insurance.

When addressing cyber risk and the threat of ransomware most of the time we focus on prevention and mitigation strategies. However, being prepared to respond quickly and efficiently when an event does occur is just as important to operations recovery, cyber event cost reduction, and brand/reputation protection. Having a well-defined, documented, and regularly tested Incident Response Plan (“IRP”) that aligns with your Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity Plan (“BCP”) can help your organization to recover from and remain operational during a cyber breach event.