Logistics and freight forwarding giant Expeditors International announced on 20/02/2022 that they were a victim of a Cyber Attack that crippled their operating systems and still continues to slow their operations around the globe. The Seattle-based freight company has approximately 18,000 employees across 350 locations in more than 100 countries and boasts annual revenues of over $10 billion. Expeditors confirmed via a press release that they had shut down most of their operating systems globally after discovering the cyberattack, however, did not disclose the nature of the attack or the systems that were directly affected.
"We are conducting a thorough investigation to ensure that our systems are restored both promptly and securely, and on a parallel track, evaluating ways with our carriers and service providers to mitigate the impact of this event on our customers. Since it is extremely early in the process, we cannot provide any specific projections on when we might be operational. Still, we will provide regular updates when we are able to do so confidently. We are incurring expenses relating to the cyber-attack to investigate and remediate this matter and expect to continue to incur expenses of this nature in the future. Depending on the length of the shutdown of our operations, the impact of this cyber-attack could have a material adverse impact on our business, revenues, results of operations and reputation."
Expeditors have been providing regular updates on their progress in returning to normal operations, however, 11 days after announcing the attack they are still working to fully restore their system. This begs the question; could your business survive being offline for 11 days?
Cybercrime will cost companies worldwide an estimated $10.5 trillion annually by 2025, up from $3 trillion in 2015. At a growth rate of 15% year over year. In February, Swiss airport management service Swissport confirmed a ransomware attack affecting its IT systems that were later attributed to the BlackCat ransomware group. Another Cyber Attack on two German oil suppliers forced energy giant Shell to reroute oil supplies to other depots over the last month. The German Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) said the BlackCat ransomware group was also behind the incident, which affected 233 gas stations across Germany.
While Expeditors, Swissport and Shell are large global organisations, Cyber Attacks on small to medium-sized businesses are becoming more frequent, targeted and complex. It is estimated that 43% of cyber attacks are aimed at small businesses, but only 14% are prepared to defend themselves. That's why Accxia has partnered with Acronis who are industry leaders in Cyber Protection. Their Cyber Protect Cloud solution unites backup and next-generation, AI-based anti-malware, antivirus, and endpoint protection management in one solution.
What's your #CyberFit score?
If you are unsure of your current security posture or you want to review the current tools you have in place or understand any security gaps you may have. Download and assess your business's #CYBERFIT score with Accxia's free lightweight #CyberFit score tool, which is powered by Acronis. Run it without installation and compare the security configurations of your endpoint and IT environment against the industry's best standards. Get a remediation report in seconds and mitigate security risks and keep endpoints safe from Cyber Attacks based on informed, actionable recommendations.
Download our #CyberFit score tool for free (64bit / 32 bit) or get in contact with one of our Cyber Security consultants to start a conversation on how we can help you.
Brian Furness : July 23, 2021 10:08:42 AM BST
