The word is out that 13 members of Anonymous have plead guilty to cyberattacks against Paypal in an event they dubbed “Operation Payback.” The group carried out DDoS attacks against the site between September 2010 and January 2011 and were indicted in October of this year. More details are at the links.
It's safe to say that most businesses aren't as big or as high profile as Paypal, and probably wouldn't be targeted for “payback” by a worldwide hacking collective. However your business could still be the target of black hat hacking, simply because it's a business. Consider this:
1. Is your data on your laptops or local PCs? What happens if those are stolen by someone with malicious intent?
2. Are there appropriate controls in place to protect your data internally? Do your employees have the appropriate access to only what they need?
3. Do you know how many attempts there have been to enter your network from the outside? Or how many attempts there have been to gain administrative access to your website?
4. Do you publicize your client list or identify your clients through testimonials? How many potential attackers have targeted you for potential access to information about those clients?
And that's just for starters. If you cannot answer these questions, can you be sure that your security measures are working? Can you be sure that you haven't been compromised?
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Christine Barry is Senior Chief Blogger and Social Media Manager at Barracuda. In this role, she helps bring Barracuda stories to life and facilitate communication between the public and Barracuda internal teams. Prior to joining Barracuda, Christine was a field engineer and project manager for K12 and SMB clients for over 15 years. She holds several technology credentials, a Bachelor of Arts, and a Master of Business Administration. She is a graduate of the University of Michigan.
Connect with Christine on LinkedIn and follow her on Twitter here.