Expert Comments on National Childbirth Trust (NCT) Data Breach

Security expert, Paul Farrington commented here on the news that the National Childbirth Trust (NCT) has been hit by a data breach,

Paul Farrington, Senior Solution Architect at Veracode:

“Cybercriminals are relentless and today’s attack on expectant parents proves they’ll stop at nothing to obtain confidential personal data, under any circumstances. Charities and healthcare organisations are seen as as a soft target given the sensitivity of the data they hold and their perceived ability to protect information assets. We have seen a number of high profile hospitals held to ransom with malware in the US in recent days.

The reality is that every sector needs to take cyber security seriously. We are still learning about the details of how NCT’s security was compromised. In similar cases, we often learn that common, avoidable weaknesses in software code have been left in the application. These serve as a ticking time bomb, only to be exploited by a person who wishes to cause harm. Things don’t need to be this way, and fewer breaches would occur with automated security code scanning of applications.

In this case it’s particularly egregious that hackers appear to be targeting mothers, and those who are expecting happiness and providing them with anxiety in return.

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