We’ve previously warned our readers about WannaCry, a dangerous ransomware virus spreading through computer systems around the globe. Now, just this week, officials from Honda have announced that they were forced to suspend operations at a plant near Tokyo, due to infection by the WannaCry virus.
The infection was discovered Sunday evening, and it apparently affected several production plants around the world. So far, only operations at the Tokyo plant had to be suspended, while Honda’s security team investigated and remedied the security breach. But the virus had already spread to other plants in North America, Europe, and China. The takeaway lesson here is that once WannaCry enters a network, it can spread to any computer in contact with those infected – even across oceans!
But that’s not the only lesson we can learn from this event. Honda is one of the largest international auto manufacturers, worth 51.4 billion dollars (according to Forbes Magazine), and growing every year. With manufacturing plants and dealerships spread around the world, you can bet that they employ a sophisticated digital communications plan. And you can also bet that Honda utilizes a high level of internet security! And yet, they still fell vulnerable to the WannaCry virus. Somewhere, something went wrong.
It truly can happen to anyone. The good news for you is, as a smaller business you can also more tightly control your network. You might not employ an entire network security department, but you don’t necessarily need that, anyway. But what you do need is a security expert who can check your network for vulnerabilities, make recommendations for upgrades, and help you secure your system against threats like WannaCry.
It’s easier than you might think. Just give us a call at 888-RING-MY-TECH, and we can show you how to keep your data safe.
