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Real cyber crime stories

Real cyber story #1

WA Insurance Brokers

What happened?

In June 2019, WA Insurance Brokers were the victims of a serious cyber incident, in the form of a ransomware attack that resulted in a major network outage for the business.

What were the consequences for the business as a result of the attack?

For 18 days, the business was technically offline resulting in the following major impacts:

  • lost the functionality to process documentation and issue invoices/renewals to existing and new clients
  • had limited access to emails
  • lost the ability to access client files
  • had to replace over 400 laptops

Luckily IT support acted quickly to lock down the network to confine the issue and an independent validation was able to confirm no client data had been breached.

What cyber precautions have been put in place to prevent another attack?

The business has installed further state of the art anti-virus software, replaced servers and issued over 400 new laptops all with enhanced anti-virus software.

Cyber Check.Me highlights that whilst anti-virus is important, it is not enough on its own to keep your business fully secure.

Advice from WA Insurance Brokers to other SME's about cyber awareness

The Director of WA Insurance Brokers said "Like a burglary, it’s not if it happens, it’s when & a Disaster Recovery Plan is paramount".  He also highlighted, that should a business use a IT provider, to understand the level of security their systems have and to ensure there is 24x7 monitoring.

Cyber Check.Me wishes to thank WA Insurance Brokers for sharing their story.  We encourage everyone to support these local businesses who have been impacted by cyber crime.  Visit WA Insurance Brokers for more information on their services.

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