Being as far along with technology as we are, it’s hard to believe that there could still be one IT-related issue that would shut down assets as large as international airplanes. But, the fact that we are so far along is in fact why we as a nation still fall victim to acts of cyber warfare.
Just recently, an ASCO factory, which is a global Aerospace supply chain located in Zaventem Belgium, was infected by ransomware that shut down work across four different countries as well as sent home more than a thousand workers.
ASCO is one of the largest airplane part manufacturers, so having the compound’s IT systems affected, reasonably caused a ripple effect. Planes from companies like Boeing, Airbus, and Lockheed Martin with certain IT systems installed were grounded.
This cyber-attack was so bad the HR representative of ASCO, Vicky Welvaert, came out and said to the press, “We have submitted an application for recognition of temporary unemployment due to force majeure.”
Unfortunately, if the type of ransomware has been discovered it has not been released to the public yet, which means the vulnerability is still there and most likely open. Business that are affiliated with the DoD need to be wary of the threats that their system could be up against. In order to protect your system and its important data, a good baseline would be to implement NIST SP 800-171 standard.
ASCO has since employed outside resources to help get to the root cause of the issue and “engaged external experts to solve the problem for us”.
Every company, whether small or large, should ensure their cybersecurity is meeting compliance requirements to try and limit/prevent issues like these from happening by staying NIST compliant, along with keeping up to date on new cyber trends.
Unsure of where your cyber strategies stand? Reach out to NeQter Labs and let us help you!
