As 2021 is now behind us in the past, it would be wise of us to take a look back and see what the biggest cyber security events were. As with the years before, 2021 experienced its own share of old and new, unique data breaches, cyber attacks, and other malicious events that many companies, governments and people experienced alike. 2021 was a very eventful time for cybersecurity, as around 1,200 security breaches were detected and reported by the Identity Theft Resource Center through September of 2021, which is 17% more then the total number of breaches in 2020. Along with many breaches, there have been other new concerning events related to cyber-attacks. Many companies have experienced shutdowns of not only cyber operations, but real-time industries had their equipment and industry shut down due to attacks. As time goes on, it is unlikely that cyber-attacks will subside and slow down. In fact, as technology advances, so will malicious actors and criminals, and so it is expected that cyber-crime will continue to rise in the foreseeable future. To gain some experience and knowledge of the current state of cyber-criminality, let’s take a look back at what we went through in 2021, and what can we learn from it.
Major Cybersecurity Events and Cases in 2021
One of the first big cybersecurity breach events of 2021 happened in the form of a familiar type of attack. In February, the well-known Kia Motor Company experienced a ransomware attack against their IT system, noting a company-wide outage during the event. Services and information such as phone services, payment operations, mobile car apps, customer support and internal staff websites were part of the attack and locked by the ransomware. According to cybersecurity news sources, a hacker group using the DoppelPaymer ransomware was behind the attack and demanded a ransom of 20 million dollars from the company. Despite Kia reported about the outage, they denied that there was a ransomware attack. Even with the denial, many cybersecurity organizations like Nozomi Networks stated that this outage experienced by Kia is quite similar to previous ransomware attacks via DoppelPaymer ransomware and other criminal outlets using this software for their malicious actions.
Moving on, one of the most famous 2021 cybersecurity events that had one of the biggest impacts on the industry was the Colonial Pipeline incident, in May of 2021. The Colonial Pipeline, one of the largest oil and gas pipelines in the USA was the victim of a ransomware attack on its operations. In order to stop further damage, the company forced a shutdown on its oil operations, meaning the pipeline was turned off. This had a large impact, as not only the company experienced damage, but millions of people on the east coast of the US experienced gas shortages everywhere, as gas stations could not find alternatives to fill up their reserves in time. In total, the company paid 4.4 million dollars worth of bitcoin to an undisclosed group of hackers, and the company resumed operation shortly after. The biggest concern here was the real-life implications of an attack on critical infrastructure. As gas and oil plays a huge part in everyday lives and industry, a hacker group could potentially shut down a whole area or even a country by hacking critical infrastructure, such as an oil pipeline in this case.
Another large cyber-attack that happened in 2021 was against the Microsoft Exchange Server. Due to vulnerabilities in the sever network system, an unknown Chinese-affiliated hacker group utilized the computer exploit Hafnium, and managed to gain access to sensitive information, like private information and users’ data. The incident happened over a period of 3 months, starting in January, and ending around March 2, when Microsoft sent out patches to fix the vulnerabilities in the system. Unlike the previous attacks we mentioned which used ransomware or a specific software, the hackers this time used Hafnium to gain stolen passwords or disguises that posed themselves as people who had access to servers. Once accessed, the hackers created remote server controllers called web shells, then it would steal the data from Exchange servers with the remote access. Due to the attack, over 60,000 companies across the US had their sensitive data and privacy violated and had their business operations delayed.
The company Exagrid was another large important company that experienced a cyberattack in 2021. This was a critical situation because Exagrid’s business involves backup storage for companies in case clients experienced a cyber-attack on their company. Unfortunately, Exagrid too experienced an attack via ransomware on their servers and data storage. Behind the attack was a hacker group that utilized Conti ransomware. Via this ransomware, the criminal enterprise managed to steal sensitive data from companies such as secret contracts, client data, source doe and other internal documents of both Exagrid and their clients. Exagrid paid a total of 2.6 million dollars worth in Bitcoin to the group in exchange to unlock the ransomware, according to ComputerWeekly.com’s French news-site LeMagIT. This attack was significant as well, as it further showed the vulnerabilities of cloud storage, and that back-up storages in case of a cyber-attack can experience a cyber attack as well.
Main Take-aways from the Biggest Cyber Events
As seen above, there has been a variety of cyber-attacks across the world, and the methods used. As with previous years, the main attacks use mostly the same methods; the most common being ransomware. Two main concerns are that the number of attacks each proceeding year is going up and the methods being used are more advanced and dangerous. As the world continues to use and move onto the cyber-world, it is expected that there will be a continued rise in cyber-crime and cyberattacks against both private users and large mega-corporations. Furthermore, while ransomware continues to be the most used method, other new ones pop up. A good example is the Microsoft Exchange attack we went over above. As the way the group hacked into the servers was a different method, utilizing computer exploits and loopholes, Microsoft did not expect an attack via their own system. As a result, many patches were later sent out to all its Exchange services, even back to the 2010 version. Cybersecurity and other technology companies have to play catch-up with hackers as hard and as effective as they can to prevent as many advanced attacks as possible. Moreover, 2021 showed how companies that offer secure storage for companies to protect themselves from cyber-attacks are vulnerable as much as regular companies. Using a backup cloud storage leads to a 3rd party handling your sensitive data, which may lead to a compromise, whether by an external attack or the company itself misusing your information. Cloud vulnerability continues to be a big risk in the cyber-security world, and cyber-security organizations continue to research the best ways to protect it.
How You can Protect Yourself Online
After reading the above, it is expected that you will be concerned for your own personal privacy and safety online. In order to ensure maximum safety and security of you and your information, it is vital you take extra steps to boost your protection. For starters, change your passwords on a regular basis. This ensures that if a leak of a company you use happens, its possible that your old password was saved, and that it cannot be used to access your account. Also, do not use the same password for all services that you use. In case of one of your passwords being leaked, your other accounts will not be compromised. In addition, data protection must be used. It is best you backup your most sensitive information, such as banking info, passwords, documents, photos, videos and other info you believe is important on an external storage drive. If you backup your data regularly, a leak or hack where your data is scrubbed and deleted will not set you back as much as it would as you have that data stored externally, away from cyber-criminals. And lastly, it is recommended you install an antivirus on your computer. A basic antivirus on your computer stops the vast majority of low and medium-level malware on your computer and some high-level ones as well. Common malware like adware, spyware and basic ransomware can be stopped by an effective antivirus software, boosting your cyber-protection by a large amount. This way, you can ensure the maximum level of your security and privacy when online. While this is not a fully inclusive tips of protection, these suggestions should be a good primer for you to further continue research into how to maintain constant reliable security when online and offline.
Overall, it is best to stay as vigilant as you can when online. While the cyber-space can be easy, convenient, and comfortable to use, our browsing habits should not lead to a compromise of our identity, privacy, and data. As seen above, there is a constant battle between users, companies, and criminals in the cyber-space and with the pandemic still going on, the amount of internet users and criminals will only continue to rise. Now is the best time to begin setting up your security, so you won’t have to waste time, energy and money in the future trying to salvage stolen data.
