Over 3000 customer records at risk in a New Years cyber attack on Luas.ie website. The website which shows information for Dublin’s tram services was down for more than 24 hours after hackers took over the site and displayed a ransom demand for one bitcoin. The attack which seems to have been triggered via ransomware software hidden inside Word or Excel documents would have taken over the website owners computer and then then given access to the hackers to use their login details to take down the website. Apart from the reputational damage of having one of the most widely used websites in Ireland hacked the primary impact was the possible exposure of over 3000 registered users details exposed to the hackers – although no financial details were at risk in this attack.

So, what can you do to avoid this happening to you?

  1. Antivirus – Invest in reputable antivirus software for all of your devices including mobile and tablets. We don’t recommend using free security software (you know the ones) so spend approx €100 to get your devices covered – its a worthwhile investment.
  2. Maintenance Contract – Make sure that your website is being updated and maintained preferably via a website maintenance contract. Just like your computer – a website needs to be updated and patched in the background to ensure its not vunerable to security threats. If these secruity updates are not applied – you will get hacked.
  3. Backups – Ensure that your website is backed up – dont assume it is as if you dont have a maintenance contract then it probably is not being backed up since it was first launched.
  4. Customer Data – Since GDPR regulations came into force in 2018 the obligation is on your business to protect customer data. This means that you should only keep data for a reasonable amount of time or for the purpose of business transactions. So if this data gets stolen you must contact the Data Commissoner for Ireland and you might risk a a hefty fine if you are found to be in breach of GDPR.

For peace of mind Contact Us about getting a Website Maintance Contract.