The recent Russia-Ukraine cyber attack has seen the latter devastated by a complex cyber attack. Both central and local Ukrainian government networks were left decimated by wiper malware, which was the threat vector used by assailants. As a result, critical infrastructure across the country was left weakened.

Wiper malware was used to cause the damage in the latest Russia-Ukraine cyber attack. This type of malware specifically tries to wipe the hard drive of the computer it infects of all information. If users in businesses aren’t correctly and regularly backing up data, these organisations are going to be left in real trouble.

The strain of wiper malware used was never seen before, which adds to the complexity of the threat vector. The attackers then followed up with a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack. This type of attack sees websites left completely paralysed due to thousands of information requests hitting them at once – all controlled by the attacker.

This wave of cyber attacks mimics those of the NotPetya ransomware, used in 2017, which brought many Ukrainian businesses to their knees. It was also a form of wiper, which encrypted computers beyond repair. Worryingly, that attack also led to businesses around the world being hit, which saw a huge £7.5bn of damage caused.

As a result of the history involved, there is a concern that this 2022 cyber attack could have ramifications on the rest of the world. In this period of uncertainty, the best thing organisations can do is prepare for the worst. This means it is time to review cyber security and cyber resilience strategies.

Fortunately, Neuways can help. We have a freely available Cyber Security Rating Report which tests your existing cyber measures, and lets you know where your vulnerabilities are. The report goes in-depth in its assessment of your business, by considering many different factors, before informing you of where any advances could be made. The report has brought a great deal of benefits and unearthed areas of improvements for the businesses that have used it to date.

Having the right cyber security policies in place can help prevent a devastating attack and reduce the impact of any successful attack. However, cyber resilience tends to be less spoken about, but is as important. As a concept, cyber resilience is all about building a stronger cyber culture, which helps organisations bounce back from periods of devastating downtime caused by attacks.

When it comes to cyber resilience, Business Continuity & Disaster Recovery plans are built to suit your business and its needs. BCDR plans ensure that company data is being saved regularly and to different devices across several locations. Thorough testing of these back-up files is also carried out, ensuring that they are recoverable.

In the event of a cyber attack (or any other disaster) that creates downtime, your business can react and implement backed-up data and files that you are confident will work as intended. The end result is a reduction in downtime and a return to business continuity sooner.

The danger of the current threat from Russia is that the method of attack is not fully understood, and the damage caused so far has been huge. Get ahead of cyber criminals and invest in your company’s safety, before it is too late.

If you require any cyber security help, please call Neuways on 01283 753 333 or email hello@neuways.com.