Scottish Parliament cyber-attack: Comment from ZoneFox
August 2017 by Dr Jamie Graves, CEO at ZoneFox
Following the Scottish Parliament’s cyber-attack, the comment from CEO at Edinburgh-based cyber security firm ZoneFox.
Dr Jamie Graves, CEO at ZoneFox comments, "A brute force attack is a tale as old as time and relies on one of the weakest areas of security - passwords. That the Scottish Parliament’s security measures were able to keep systems operational is a case in point of how important it is to be in a position to rapidly identify attacks and stop them in their tracks. The hackers may have been thwarted this time, but there’s nothing to say they won’t be back. That the IT department will force a change on weak passwords is a good, proactive measure. However, this isn’t a failsafe. What the Scottish Parliament has in its favour is a transparent, open culture and so unquestionably all staff will heed Sir Paul Grice’s request to remain vigilant. A united, digitally alert team is one of the greatest tools organisations can deploy in their fight against hackers."