Wake up and smell the cyber risk says McGill and Partners following Colonial Pipeline attack

The cyber attack on the Colonial Pipeline in the US should serve as a wakeup call to businesses around the world about the growing threat of cyber attacks, according to Shannan Fort, head of cyber at  McGill and Partners, the specialist insurance broker.

The Colonial Pipeline was recently the victim of a ransomware cyber attack, and now faces an expensive decision, Fort said. It must “either work to clear this ransomware from all their systems, a complex, costly process which could take weeks. Or pay the ransom,” she explained.

The latter choice, however, offers no guarantee that the systems, including their data, will be fully restored, Fort added.

Fort warned that many businesses around the world remain unprepared for the risk of a cyber attack, urging such businesses to see this as a wakeup call. Businesses that are prepared for cyber attacks, with detailed back-up and continuity measures in place, are far less likely to be forced to pay ransoms, she noted.

“Cyber-attacks aren’t going away,” Fort said. “Cyber-criminals keep evolving and this means organisations will keep facing huge disruption unless they take real preventative and mitigative measures.”

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