Norsk Hydro responds to ransomware attack with transparency

[Bot]

Last March, aluminum supplier Norsk Hydro was attacked by LockerGoga, a form of ransomware. The attack began with an infected email and locked the files on thousands of servers and PCs. All 35,000 Norsk Hydro employees across 40 countries were affected. In the throes of this crisis, executives made three swift decisions:

• Pay no ransom.
• Summon Microsoft’s cybersecurity team to help restore operations.
• Communicate openly about the breach.

Read Hackers hit Norsk Hydro with ransomware to learn why this approach helped the company recover and get back to business as usual.

The post Norsk Hydro responds to ransomware attack with transparency appeared first on Microsoft Security.

 

[Dave Russo]

Forgive my apparent arrogance,I just can not get away from doubting ... Microsoft to the rescue, Do not pay the ransom, you can pay our Microsoft Team instead ,at a bargain rate of course,Do not get me wrong Norsk is the victim,Maybe Microsoft needs to give a guarantee to its customers security or we (they) will pay. Thanks for the link

 

[upnorth]

The key factor was in this case, that MS can't take credit for even if they would love to is how Hydro themselves with retired employees that literally used paper and pen was able to keep the production running. That was the real genuine backup that saved Hydro, not specific MS.

A bit funny IMO is that in the video from Hydro MS ain't mentioned once but, Facebook and Whatsapp is. Guess Mark is very proud.

Do not pay the ransom, you can pay our Microsoft Team instead

I understand your point and can even somewhat agree but, IMO Hydro did the correct thing and involved a professional part of helping them re-build their IT infrastructure. One can always argue that some other part would have been better but, no matter who that will always cost something and it would probably been cheaper just pay off the hackers. The problem then, is the risk of getting hit over and over again and also help send the message that it's actually is no problem for hackers. Therein lays I can guess a part of the general problem in the US and it's infrastructure and especially the use of insurances as a mean of quick fix to pay the ransomware. I even saw the mayor of New Orleans very recently in a news video almost proud state the implementation of insurance. She did get a follow up question from a reporter about it, but never fully explained what it actually means and I'm pretty sure most citizens aren't aware.