The Implications of Malware
If your business relies on customer and company data that is stored digitally, you cannot risk getting a virus from a piece of malware. The implications for you and your customers can be devastating, regardless of how encrypted the data is. It is absolutely essential to have appropriate computer professionals scan your systems and recommend the type of data protection that is right for you.
For instance, a recent story from Wired Magazine discusses how a ‘logic bomb’ was inserted into the Transportation Security Administration’s system used for screening passengers on flights:
“Douglas Duchak, 46, had worked as a data analyst at the TSA’s Colorado Springs Operations Center, or CSOC, since 2004. He planted the malware in late 2009, after the agency gave him two weeks’ notice that he was being terminated from the job he’d held for five years.
The CSOC screens airport workers who have “access to sensitive information and secure areas of the nation’s transportation network,” and also identifies passengers who have a warrant out for their arrest, according to authorities. The CSOC network stores updated information from the government’s terrorist watchlist, as well as criminal histories from the U.S. Marshal’s Service Warrant Information Network.
Duchak’s job was to update the CSOC database as new information arrived from these two sources.”
A logic bomb is used to steal information and disrupt server services at a predetermined date. Luckily, the article says that some employees discovered it before it could deliver any destruction. Imagine if the information of millions and millions of flyers was stolen and used for criminal activity – it could have been harmful to many lives.
Now put your company in place of the TSA – could you handle the loss of any information about your company? This includes your financial, human resources and other kinds of data, a lot of which would be lost forever. Give ASG Technologies a call today to screen your system and consult your company.
