TfL cyberattack could be due to poor cyber-hygiene, expert says
The recent cyberattack on TfL is just one of many notable cyberattacks that have occurred in the UK over the past few months.
Transport for London (TfL) announced on 2 September that they were targeted by a cyberattack and are collaborating with the National Crime Agency to manage the consequences.
As per the company that handles transportation, it seems that customer information has not been accessed without permission and the transportation system and services are running smoothly without any issues.
Ross Brewer, who is the vice president and managing director for the EMEA region at the cybersecurity firm Graylog, stated that organizations considered critical to national infrastructure, such as Transport for London (TfL) as well as other sectors like transportation, utilities, healthcare, finance, and telecommunications, are facing significant threats from cyber attacks.
The biggest worry is that government-backed individuals from countries such as Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea have been found living in these systems for a long time, sometimes even years. This makes us wonder: why are these individuals allowed in UK infrastructure, staying hidden, and not taking advantage of their access for financial gain?
Brewer explains that a lot of security professionals think that these groups are taking over their enemies' systems to create chaos in the nation for political and military objectives.
Although it is not clear exactly what happened in the TfL attack, it is possible that the breach was caused by inadequate online security measures.
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Customers were informed about the attack in a message sent on Monday evening, with TfL being the most recent target in a series of prominent attacks, such as the NHS in June and Microsoft in July.
Microsoft was targeted by a large-scale cyber attack known as a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack. This led to disruptions in the functioning of the company's Azure cloud platform.
One reason why cyber criminals may target well-known brands is because they believe that if they carry out a ransomware attack, the company will be more likely to pay the ransom.
Brewer suggests that as big companies continue to fork over money for ransoms, there has been a noticeable increase in criminal groups getting involved in cybercrime.
Shashi Verma, who is the chief technology officer at TfL, mentioned that they have implemented several actions within their internal systems to address a current cyber security issue.
"We place a high priority on protecting our systems and customer information and will monitor the situation closely both during and after the incident."
