I had time the other day to check out my company's openings as we scoured the globe to find more talent. Before sending out information into my network I wanted to peek behind the curtain of the positions and look at our skills tests (short little tests to make sure if you are applying for accounting you know what math is, oh and that green thing called money) We utilize Kwiksurveys.com for these tests, as well as end of project surveys to our customers for feedback. Kwiksurveys is just a company providing ways to get feedback and input from customers, employees, companies and more, yet this service has evidently upset someone.
As I opened a link to this neutral company I was greeted with a message, Ill copy a bit here for you to read:
"Important announcement
On the 25th of June, KwikSurveys experienced what we initially believed to be a major server failure and corruption of our data backups, which we initially attributed to hardware issues and worked around the clock to restore on a new and more reliable server. It has since emerged that this loss of data was not hardware related, but was the the work of a group of hackers targeting the company, who returned over the course weekend with the intention of completely destroying the site, our business and your data. We are currently collecting information now to pass on to the relevant authorities for further investigation.
We are working to restore access but do not have an ETA or further information at this time."
I want to bring this up to make sure everyone understands how important security is today, no matter who or what company you are. I would consider my employer to be a service oriented company for our customers, and would never think that another company we do work for would attack us, even a competitor. Then again, I don't perceive these companies to be the real threat, just as I don't believe an angry survey taker took down KwikSurveys. Everything your company does that the public can see is scrutinized, the donations you make, the work you do, the companies you work for. Just one small thing can put a target on your back that is impossible to shake off, and even harder to prepare for if you haven't been taking baby steps on increasing your security.
I would like to think that my company does no wrong, we always treat our customers and community with the up-most respect and that we would never become a target...but thats not true and I know it. I have seen random attacks to our firewall from random IP addresses in foreign countries, I have logs of data showing their attack patterns, prying to get in, to see our secrets, our precious data.
Will KwikSurveys bounce back from this attack? I hope so, but have slim hopes. A company can be killed in a day if someone can get in and find your financials, your back accounts, your passwords, and your sensitive customer data...and worst your secrets to success.
If you havent stressed security enough to your employer, your manager or anyone who will listen you must do so. While users might not like layers of precaution, increased encryption, complex required passwords and worse ones that change it is a necessary measure as you really do not know who is watching. Believe me, someone you don't know is.
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