Following the news about The World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) condemnation of Russian hackers for leaking confidential medical files of star US Olympic athletes – Simone Biles and Serena Williams, IT security expert Troy Gill, Manager of Security Research at AppRiver commented below.
Troy Gill, Manager of Security Research at AppRiver:
“All organisations that hold sensitive data need to handle data security with the utmost importance. This means maintaining or exceeding current standards on how data is best handled, both at rest and in transit. In addition, these organisations should focus on securing their entire organisation at all levels. This includes everything from minimising vulnerabilities and preventative intrusion measures to breach detection.
“In an event like this, where the breach may have originated with a spearphishing attack, the same rules still apply. Multiple layers of security is the best approach as there is no single product or practice that can protect an organisation from the astronomical number of threats that exist nowadays. Utilising a robust email and web filtering solution are essential pieces to the puzzle. Keeping all software up to date is another often overlooked measure that can yield great results. Also, in the case of spearphishing—having employees undergo routine security awareness training can be quite beneficial as well. And of course as I mentioned before storing the data securely.
“Hacktivism has been coming into its over recent years and we are now seeing it have an impact on global issues. Going forward, this trend will only continue to grow and have further implications in our daily lives.”
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