The July 4th Cyberattacks targeting both The United States and South Korea are worthy of scrutiny past the point where they have been examined by the media. In the United States, Treasury Department, Secret Service, Federal Trade Commission and Transportation Department websites were and affected. Similar attacks degraded service at South Korean government agencies. Commercial websites including the New York Stock Exchange, Yahoo, NASDAQ, and The Washington Post were attacked.
The United States government has been characteristically and appropriately mum on the attacks. Spokespeople have characterized the attacks as real, but unsophisticated. North Korea has been identified as a possible culprit, but no evidence that would link it to these attacks has been made public.
These attacks raise several questions that CEO's should be asking themselves including:
- How safe is my company from a Cyberattack? While no defensive shield is completely protective, has my technical team taken all appropriate steps to protect our company's brand, websites, and availability?
- Do we have a response plan in place to respond in case attackers get through our defenses and shut down or deface our websites? Will we have to scramble post-event to figure out what to say to our customers or will we be prepared?
- If our website is our main revenue channel, how will we be able to ring the registers if the web becomes unavailable?
- If a major attack impacts our industry, is our company positioned to seize market share or bolster its brand?
- How can I better understand both the probability and potential impact of a cyberattack?
Well prepared CEO's already have considered these issues. Have you?
