Hiscox Head Of Cyber Comments On The ‘Petya’ Ransomware Attack

“This incident is still evolving, but as is becoming increasingly clear, by its very nature the cyber threat is an international threat. It is indiscriminate in terms of the size or geographic reach of its targets and is a faceless crime, hidden behind the anonymity of the digital age. The motivations vary too – often, it is where money can be extorted, but another driver can be to cause as much disruption as possible.

“What’s clear is that even large companies such as those affected by this attack, which would typically have substantial IT security budgets, are not impenetrable. There is a commonality that exists across software and hardware as many businesses use similar systems which make global attacks possible, as we saw with WannaCry. Every business is a technology business these days and so we are unlikely to see the frequency of these attacks reduce.

“Even though the perpetrators have made little financial gain (which is unlikely to have been their primary motive in this campaign), there has been significant impact to those companies that have been affected by this incident.”