Vivartia, one of the most serious food companies belonging to the MIG group, was recently subjected to a hacking attack , resulting in dozens of systems losing access to their files.
Specifically, according to authoritative sources, in some cases DELTA factories stopped supplying the market with DELTA products as it was impossible to issue invoices and monitor suppliers, while cash registers were not operating in Everest catering stores.
The hackers, whose identities we still have no information about, infected the systems with ransomware , encrypting the files. They were demanding 75,000 euros in Bitcoin for their decryption .
Ultimately, the company paid the ransom as the IT security companies that were approached for help declared their inability to resolve the problem.
Upon payment of the ransom, the hackers unlocked the files, restoring the systems to normal operation.
It should be noted that the malicious users likely exploited the human factor in this particular attack by sending a phishing message to a company employee.
Another equally possible cause is the fact that some Vivartia offices were running old computers with the Windows XP (WinXP) operating system.
It is noted that Microsoft has announced since 2011 that it will stop supporting WinXP, in April 2014. Since then, computers running this operating system have not been covered by security updates and are an easy target for hackers.
Also, web browsers no longer cover the security problems that arise on computers with the WinXP operating system. For example, the most well-known programs such as Google Chrome, Microsoft Internet Explorer and Firefox.
After the strong shock, it seems that the management realized, the hard way, how critical the security of information systems is in a business and is determined to take the necessary measures with changes, initially, in the company's IT department.
