Boeing Executives Hit With WannaCry Ransomware
By: Jim Stickley and Tina Davis
April 13, 2018
As the City of Atlanta still combats the remains of the SamSam ransomware attack that crippled the city, Boeing has come out to say that it too was a victim of a ransomware attack. This strain is no stranger to anyone. In fact, it hit many companies around the world in 2017. You know which one that is, don’t you? Yep, WannaCry, or some version of it, is still out there and it made some Boeing executives cry.
Boeing announced that several machines in its commercial division had been hit with the ransomware, but that it had not spread to any vital production equipment. After the initial panic, they have since announced that they deployed software patches to fix it. However, those who know how WannaCry works, know that it’s a little too late once the issue is exploited. It’s unclear if they restored the affected systems from backups or if they completely reinstalled the operating system and software.
The best way to avoid ransomware attacks like this one is to ensure the entire organization is educated on how these spread in the first place. Many times, if not most of the time, it’s through phishing email messages. Comprehensive and continual awareness training of the most recent threats and how to avoid falling victim really is the best line of defense. These days, many malicious messages bypass any spam filters and other security defense tools that are implemented. Knowledge really is power in these cases.
The quickest way to reduce the amount of damage ransomware can do should it hit, is to make sure all systems have the most current patches applied at all times. Microsoft released the fix for this vulnerability over a year ago. This situation could have been avoided.
And having current backups at the ready will help get all systems up and going in a jiffy, should the need arise. Then the hackers don’t get their payday either.
Boeing has stated that to the best of the company’s knowledge, no significant damage was done and there is no threat to aircraft.
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