At 1,100 companies in our country, the gates are wide open for hackers to infiltrate their systems. This is evident from a list that VTM NEWS was able to view. A striking number of municipalities, hospitals and government institutions are also vulnerable. Even a parliament. The cause is a leak at Microsoft, for which a solution exists, but customers must then install it.
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According to Geert Baudewijns of IT security company Secutec, it is not only about small organizations, police zones and municipalities that are vulnerable, but “also very large companies”. VTM NEWS does not mention names of companies or institutions – in order not to make the hackers any wiser – but it also concerns hospitals and even a parliament.
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Hackers have already entered at least 31 companies, waiting to strike. “Once the hackers get in, they are able to take everything with them,” warns Baudewijns. The problem is with Microsoft’s Exchange software. “In 95 percent of the cases, they use a domain adminpassword and with that password you are entitled to everything within an organization. ” Everything is possible at that moment, and hackers take advantage of that.
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Quote That is the way of working today: they steal data, encrypt your entire company and then demand a ransom.
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Four leaks
Many companies use Microsoft Exchange, for example, for emails or calendars. Chinese hackers found four weak spots in this. According to some IT security experts, there are more than 250,000 affected systems worldwide. Microsoft launched a solution that companies have to install on March 2, but since then the vulnerability has also been known by other hackers.
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“If we already see today that 31 companies were attacked in 72 hours, we assume that in the next 10 days more than 200 companies will become victims of ransomware,” says Baudewijns. “That is the way of working today: people steal data, encrypt your entire company and then demand a ransom.”
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Private individuals are not affected by this leak. Companies can use the website of Secutec find out if their systems are vulnerable.
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