Curacao Chronicle posted an article on May 22nd, 2017, about the Wannary ransomware and the Caribbean. Below are some key highlights:
- “Organizations who continue to run Windows XP, software which cannot adequately detect and protect your information assets, and obsolete software, will make your systems easy targets for hackers and cyber criminals, as these systems will be hardest hit as the level of vulnerabilities and exploits are high and available.” This is an extract from the Cyber Security Predictions for 2015 written by the Deon Olton, ICT/Cyber Security Consultant with Caribbean Cyber Security Center
- Cyber security consultants at the Caribbean Cyber Security Center have predicted this level of cyberattacks two years ago based on the threat intelligence available in 2015
- WannaCry targets these Microsoft operating systems where hackers take control of a computer and encrypt the data until the victim makes a payment in return
- WannaCry has infected hundreds of thousands of endpoints spanning more than 150 countries due to its worm-like ability to propagate and spread to other systems
- The lack of preparedness for these threats will lead to Caribbean governments and private sector organizations being battered by an increasing range, type and frequency of attacks which demand a proactive and appropriately sophisticated response by those charged with cyber defense
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