By Sue-Ann Wayow
THE Ministry of National Security is saying that there is a sharp increase in cyber attacks over the past two months.
In a release on Friday, the ministry stated that the Trinidad and Tobago Cyber Security Incident Response Team (TT-CSIRT) of the Ministry of National Security has observed “malicious cyber activity” targeting local and regional entities.
“The TT-CSIRT is urging all entities (public and private) to adopt a heightened state of awareness,” the ministry stated.
The ministry stated the most prominent threats that TT-CSIRT has observed include: Ransomware, Social Engineering (phishing) and malicious insiders.
According to the ministry, the cyberattacks can be initiated through multiple attack vectors the most prominent used against local entities being: exploitation of system vulnerabilities – particularly outdated firewall appliances and email systems, phishing emails with infected attachments or links, compromised user credentials.
The release comes one day after popular supermarket chain Massy Stores announced that services were compromised due to a glitch in the system, less than a week after shipping company Aeropost customers complained of credit cards being compromised. Last month, Telecommunications Services of Trinidad and Tobago (TSTT) also had a major IT issue resulting in the inability to process bills at all their Bmobile outlets. That issue was resolved after several weeks.
On Thursday, Massy Stores confirmed that the issues experienced were caused by a cyber attack.
In a release on social media Massy Stores stated, “Dear valued customers, Massy Stores confirms that it was the target of a cybersecurity attack which led to the technical difficulties experienced today at all stores across the country.”
“The company took immediate action, suspending all customer-facing systems, and has been working with third-party experts to resolve the situation. Backup servers were not affected and the technical team is actively working with the expert teams to restore the system safely and in the shortest time possible.”
Massy Stores also stated that it was not aware of any evidence at this time that any customer, supplier or employee data had been compromised or misused as a result of the situation.
On Friday morning, from 7 am, stores at seven locations were open for business however the Massy Card system was not fully operational, for safety and security reasons.
Massy Stores apologised for the inconvenience and stated the public will be updated via the company’s social media pages.
Massy Stores stated, “We continue to work assiduously to get the rest of our locations back up and running.”
