Are hackers targeting McDonalds, Greggs and Sainsbury's? | PQ58875 | 2024-03-30 11:08:01
Sausage roll lovers have been left bereft final week when quite a lot of Greggs bakeries closed their doors following an IT glitch.
Greggs stated a 'technical challenge' left them unable to process payments in what was the fourth national report of major IT problems in lower than every week, following points at McDonald's, Sainsbury's and Tesco.
This string of mishaps left clients wondering whether or not there was a link between the outages, and if cyber criminals might be accountable.
Here's what we find out about what occurred at Greggs, McDonalds, Tesco and Sainsbury's – and how hackers might target major corporations sooner or later.
Have been Greggs, McDonalds, Tesco and Sainsbury's focused by hackers?
Last Friday, McDonalds closed a number of stores around the globe after it was hit by main IT problems.
Clients within the UK, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand have been unable to make funds on the quick food chain, though some have been capable of order via the McDonalds app.
Then, final weekend, contactless payments and on-line orders at Sainsbury's have been halted following an IT glitch.
Internet buyers at Tesco have been additionally impacted by technical problems, with many on-line deliveries cancelled.
A number of days later, a glitch at Greggs pressured several bakeries to turn clients away.
Some on social media questioned whether or not the flurry of technical issues was greater than only a coincidence.
</div> Not one of the corporations have stated their technical glitches have been linked to cyber attacks.
In reality, McDonalds denied it, with a spokesperson saying the glitch was 'not related to a cybersecurity occasion'.
</div> Sainsbury's stated their glitch was brought on by an in a single day software update, whereas Tesco stated in an e-mail to clients that theirs was brought on by a 'system difficulty'.
Greggs, in the meantime, stated it experienced a 'technical challenge' however made no further comment.
A security official told The Sun that whereas it was 'odd' that the collection of IT mysteries occurred so shut together, it was doubtless that there was an harmless rationalization behind the string of outages.
Professor Raj Rajarajan, Director of the Institute for Cyber Safety at Metropolis College of London, informed Metro.co.uk that the 'growing digital transformation' of companies left them susceptible to 'major cyber attacks'.
He defined that growing digital transformation additionally increases the probability of mundane tech failings, similar to a glitchy software replace.
What is a cyber assault?
In a cyber attack, criminals attempt to steal, manipulate or destroy knowledge and disable or injury IT methods.
Hackers typically work in secretive organised gangs, using quite a few methods to focus on their victims.
'Phishing' is among the commonest forms of cyber attack. This refers to when someone sends an e-mail pretending to be any person else in an effort to persuade a sufferer handy over private info, corresponding to bank details.
And specialists say they're turning into more durable to identify.
'With the rise of AI, some phishing attacks are very refined and really arduous to differentiate from real messages,' Professor Rajarajan tells Metro.co.uk.
Cyber criminals additionally use a way referred to as 'spear-phishing', sending emails containing an attachment with malicious software program. By clicking the attachment,victims unwittingly obtain the software program, which might injury or disrupt their pc system.
In ransomware attacks, cyber criminals use a special sort of software to dam entry to a pc system.
'Ransomware will continue to be a problem for the UK with automated AI-based botnet attacks,' Professor Rajarajan says.
Hackers will typically use ransomware to carry businesses hostage: they say they may stop blocking access to a pc system if the enterprise pays them money.
Ransomware teams also steal essential knowledge and sell it on the dark net.
Are cyber assaults on the rise?
There have been a string of high-profile cyber assaults in current months.
In October 2023, a Russian cyber gang referred to as Rhysida launched an assault on the British Library that left its key providers out of motion for several months.
Rhysida stole British Library worker knowledge, together with employment contracts and passport info, and put it up for sale on the darkish net.&
Bids for the private knowledge began at 20 bitcoins – round £596,000. The group described the info as 'exclusive, unique and impressive'.
</div> And the British Library isn't the one organisation to be focused by Russian-linked hackers.&
In February, Southern Water was focused by Russian cyber gang Black Basta.
The company stated in a press release that the private particulars and financial info of its clients might have been stolen and put up on the market on the dark net.
China-backed hackers have additionally focused UK organisations. The federal government stated that China was behind a cyber assault on the UK's election watchdog, the Electoral Fee, in 2021.
In the attack, the names and addresses of 40 million individuals have been accessed by the hackers.&
'As the geopolitics trajectory continues altering we'll continue to see more state-sponsored assaults on UK's essential infrastructure,' Professor Rajarajan says.
There has additionally been a wave of cyber attacks towards British politicians.
Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden is predicted to say that China was the assaults on 43 MPs and peers in a press release in Parliament right now.
Luke de Pulford, the chief director of a cross-party group on China, stated at a gathering on Friday: 'Beijing has made no secret of their want to assault overseas politicians who dare to face up to them.'
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