A construction company that’s won millions of dollars worth of contracts with the military and other federal departments has been hit by a ransomware attack — raising questions about how the federal government does business with outside firms open to cyberattacks.
Ransomware attacks involve malicious software used to cripple a target’s computer system to solicit a cash payment. Last month, a group known as Maze — infamous for publicly shaming victims until they pay up — claimed to have run a successful strike against the Toronto-based company Bird Construction, stealing 60 GBs of data.
Original Article: Ransomware Attack On Construction Company Raises Questions On Government Contracts
cnstrctr Insight
The article originally posted by the CBC sheds some light on a new issue that construction companies are having to deal with in the modern day economy. Hacking and or cyber attacks are becoming a more regular occurrence and are no longer targeting governments. Cyber attacks are more regularly occurring on commercial companies which is starting to include construction companies.
And it makes sense. Construction companies handle some of the most sensitive data for people looking to pull off attacks. If you’re someone looking to do damage to a government property, a construction company’s plans database would be the perfect place to start and end your hunt.
In the article they focus on Bird Construction who are major players within the Canadian Construction market and developers of many of the largest defense projects. Bird suffered a ransomware attack where a group of hackers called Maze attacked the website and private servers gaining access to their information which was later published online.
Do We Have The Ability To Protect Ourselves?
One of the most staggering statistics within the article was the 88 percent of Canadian Organizations reported a hacking or breach within the last 12 months. That’s astounding and terrifying. Our nations infrastructure live on some of these servers that people can gain access to.
The problem and issue doesn’t just lie with Bird Contruction, our industry is historically behind the times when it comes to our ability to keep up with technology, and, very likely other major construction companies are in the same bucket.
Preventing this from occurring should be on the top of everyone’s mind, especially in instances where you are handling sensitive government data.
How do you protect your construction data and network from cyberattacks? Let us know in the comments below.
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