Top Reasons Your System Got Hacked

by Scott Lewis

There has been a lot of talk recently regarding the Sony hacker attack and how hackers gain access to systems. Companies still don’t take malware, viruses or the value of web monitoring seriously but, at the same time, have an expectation that their systems are secure. The recent Sony hack reinforces the fact that all systems are valuable regardless of if you are in the cloud or have in-house systems. In some cases being in the cloud may increase your exposure to lost data and hacking verses having your systems in-house due to a higher level of web based traffic you will show up on the radar so to speak.

What are some of the signs that might show up if you have been hacked? One of the first is the fake anti-virus message. This happens when you are browsing the Internet and then all of a sudden a pop up happens saying it is scanning your hard drive for viruses. Clicking on cancel or no at this point is not going to help, the program has already taken advantage of unprotected software or software that has not been patched or upgraded that created a hole in your system.

Wondering what to do if you see this? First save any work that you may have been working on, secondly power down your system then reboot into safe mode and then search for any new programs that may have been installed and uninstall them. Lastly make sure that your anti-virus is up to date and scan your system to make sure that there is not some other active program.

Another sign that shows you may have been hacked is that new toolbars show up on your browser. Typically these new toolbars try to make you think that they are there to speed up your work, make you more productive or disguise themselves as shortcuts that when you click on them who knows where you will end up. Other common ways you may be able to identify that you have been hacked would be redirected internet searches, frequent random pop-ups, unexpected password changes or your anti-virus is turned off randomly.

Why would someone target you? The reality is that in most cases you were not the specific target but a means to an end. In the case of Sony they were the target, and in that case there is or was no real way to protect themselves outside of turning off their system or disconnecting from the Internet, which is not a reasonable expectation for a company the size of Sony. In general, you just became an easier target. So the basic rule of thumb, just like with your home, make your house less desirable than the house next door. You do that through keeping your technology current, updating your software, layering your security, and watching the inside of your network with the same enthusiasm as you watch the outside of your network.

Depending on the sophistication of the hacker there are a lot of reasons that you may be a target. The most common reasons they are looking for personal information for the goal of identity theft. Information such as social security numbers, bank account information, credit card information, address information and one of the most overlooked but sought after is the emergency contact information. Why the emergency contact information?  What is your mother’s maiden name, previous addresses, some common information that you may think is not important but you have used as security question answers.

Theft of intellectual property is a multibillion dollar a year business. The biggest drivers of this is state sponsored theft. Yes, countries like China and North Korea are sponsoring attacks on businesses such as the New York Times, Sony, and many others. Intellectual knowledge attacks are all about the money and the value of saving time to develop the knowledge themselves outweighs the cost of paying a hacker to steal it.

Another reason you may have been a target is simply for the computing power of your network verses the power of the hacker’s personal system. One big advantage that hackers have is time but one thing they may lack is the overall computing power to run multiple hacks at the same time and hide from authorities. Hackers will use the computing power of your system to attack other systems. This gives them free access to higher levels of computing power, and if they are detected and tracked, one of the stops for the FBI will be at your door. This is why it is as important to watch and monitor the inside of your network and outbound traffic to the Internet as it is the outside and inbound traffic to your network.

Security continues to be a big topic and it will continue to be a big topic for the foreseeable future. Companies need to continue to review and refine their security efforts. The Sony hack is proof that American companies of all sizes are targets. Even with all the security that Sony had in place, hackers still got in and Sony became a victim. We can’t let our guard down, we must be vigilant and constantly upgrading our policies, practices and our hardware and software.

Scott Lewis is the President and CEO of Winning Technologies Group of Companies.  The Winning Technologies Group of companies is an international technology management company. Scott has more than 30 years of experience in the technology industry, is a nationally recognized speaker on technology subjects such as Collocation, Security, CIO level Management, Data and Voice Communications and Best Practices related to the management of technology resources.  Learn more about Winning Technologies at www.winningtech.com or call 877-379-8279.