Indian firms lost $500,000 to cyber attacks in 1.5 years: CISCO survey

Cyber attacks in the country caused financial damages to the tune of about $500,000 to India companies in the last 12-18 months, says a study.
"...more than half of all attacks resulted in financial damages of more than $500,000, including, but not limited to, lost revenue, customers, opportunities, and out-of-pocket costs," the technology firm Cisco 2018 Annual Cybersecurity report released today said.

Cisco interviewed around 200 organisation across vertical in the country including financial services, manufacturing, government (including defence), telecommunication, retail, healthcare, pharmaceuticals, education.

The report said that security is getting more complex and scope of breaches is expanding.
"Defenders are implementing a complex mix of products from a cross-section of vendors to protect against breaches. This complexity and growth in breaches has many downstream effects on an organizations ability to defend against attacks, such as increased risk of losses," the report said.

BadRabbit' cyber attacks hit airport, metro in Ukraine

The chief of Ukraine's cyber police said Ukraine was attacked on Tuesday by malware called BadRabbit, adding that the country was barely affected.

Earlier the airport in the southern city of Odessa said it had tightened security measures after being hit by a cyber attack, while the metro system in the capital Kiev reported a hack on its payment system.

Asked whether the malware BadRabbit was used in the attacks, Cyber Police Chief Serhiy Demedyuk said by text message "yes, correct".
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Deloitte hit by cyber attack, says 'very few' clients affected

Global accountancy firm Deloitte said on Monday it had been hit in a cyber attack that had compromised the data of a small number of its clients but gave few details about how its systems had been breached.

Attackers had accessed data from the company's email platform, the company said in a statement, confirming a report by the Guardian newspaper.

Deloitte, one of the "big four" accountants, said it had mobilised a team of cyber-security experts to review its systems and to discover what information had been put at risk.

It said the review had found "only a very few clients" had been affected.

"No disruption has occurred to client businesses, to Deloitte's ability to continue to serve clients, or to consumers," a spokeswoman said in a statement.

The firm, which provides auditing, tax advice and consultancy to multinationals and governments, did not say when the attack occurred or how its defences had been breached.

The Guardian said the firm discovered the hack in March, but the cyber attackers could have had hacked into its systems as long ago as October or November 2016.
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S&P 500, Nasdaq hit record highs as oil price rise boosts energy stocks

The Nasdaq Composite and the S&P 500 touched record highs in late morning trading on Monday as a rise in oil prices boosted energy stocks and investors shrugged off the impact of a global cyber attack.

Oil hit its highest in more than three weeks after top exporters Saudi Arabia and Russia said supply cuts needed to last into 2018, a step towards extending the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Counties (Opec)-led deal to support prices for longer than originally agreed.

Shares of oil majors Exxon and Chevron helped boost the S&P energy index, which was on track to close higher for the first time in three sessions.

"The rebound in oil prices and lack of bad news on the geopolitical front has led to a bit of a relief rally in equities," said Randy Frederick, vice president of trading and derivatives for Charles Schwab in Austin, Texas.

"At this level, there isn't too big a correlation between oil and equities but since we've seen oil fall quite a bit in a month or so, today's rally in oil is helping the market grind higher."

At 10:53 am ET (14:53 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 89.46 points, or 0.43 per cent, at 20,986.07. The S&P 500 was up 12.54 points, or 0.52 per cent, at 2,403.44 and the Nasdaq Composite was up 30.37 points, or 0.50 per cent, at 6,151.61.

All the 11 major S&P 500 sectors were higher, with the energy and materials index leading the gainers.

Investors seemed to mostly shrug off fears from a successful missile test by North Korea and a cyber attack that disrupted operations at car factories, hospitals, shops and schools.

Shares of cybersecurity firms such as Fireye, Symantec and Palo Alto Networks were all up.

Cisco's 2.5 per cent rise provided the biggest boost to the Nasdaq and S&P.

US stocks slipped on Friday, ending the week lower as tepid economic data weighed on banks and worries deepened over department stores.
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Renault-Nissan resumes work in nearly all plants after ransomware attack

Renault-Nissan said on Monday that output had returned to normal at nearly all its plants, after a global cyber attack caused widespread disruption including stoppages at several of the auto alliance's sites.

Renault and its Japanese partner are the only major car manufacturers so far to have reported production problems resulting from Friday's WannaCry ransomware worm attack that spread to more than 150 countries.

Nissan said its huge factory in Sunderland, northeast England was operating normally, after Friday's initial outbreak disrupted the final production shift before the weekend.

However, manufacturing remained suspended at the Douai plant in northern France, where Renault builds pricier models including its Talisman sedan and Espace crossover, the company said.

The cyber attack halted or reduced the output of at least five Renault sites over the weekend. Besides Douai, they included a van plant in Sandouville, France; a small-car plant in Slovenia; the no-frills Dacia plant in Pitesti, Romania; and a factory shared with Nissan in Chennai, India.

"All Renault Group sites are operational with the exception of Douai, which reopens tomorrow," a spokesman said. Lost production will be made up, he added, and the financial impact has yet to be calculated.

Renault-Nissan's main rivals appeared to escape any disruption. PSA Group, Fiat Chrysler, Volkswagen, Daimler, Toyota and Honda all said their plants were unaffected.

They declined to comment on their cybersecurity policies. "If we give any information on our systems we would be sending a message to potential hackers," a PSA spokesman said.

The attack damaged some high-profile targets, including Britain's health service. But experts say the concentration of infections in emerging markets, with relatively low numbers in Europe and the United States, reflects the way they mainly affected older Windows computer systems.

Paul Pratley of London-based MWR Infosecurity said WannaCry had in many cases hit budget-strapped organisations or older business units where it no longer made economic sense to upgrade hardware or software aggressively.

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England hospitals hit by cyber attack; emergency patients diverted

A number of hospitals across Englandwere forced to divert emergency patients after being hit by a suspected cyber attack.

According to a report by The Guardian, hospitals across the country appear to have been simultaneously hit by a bug in their IT systems, leading to many diverting emergency patients.

NHS England said it was aware of the problem and would release more details soon.

East and North Hertfordshire NHS trust, one of the those affected, said in a statement: "Today (Friday, 12 May 2017), the trust has experienced a major IT problem, believed to be caused by a cyber attack. Immediately on discovery of the problem, the trust acted to protect its IT systems by shutting them down; it also meant that the trust's telephone system is not able to accept incoming calls."

"The trust is postponing all non-urgent activity for today and is asking people not to come to A&E - please ring NHS111 for urgent medical advice or 999 if it is a life-threatening emergency," the statement added.

Meanwhile, the Independent reported that a conversation circulating online saw one doctor saying "our hospital is down".

"We got a message saying your computers are now under their control and pay a certain amount of money. And now everything is gone.
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