Intelligent CISO Issue 27 | Page 24

threat updates AFRICA The Life Healthcare Group announced that its southern African operation has been the victim of a targeted criminal attack on its IT systems. The company said it acted immediately and took its systems offline, in order to actively contain the attack. Pieter Van der Westhuizen, Acting Group CEO, said: “We are deeply disappointed and saddened that criminals would attack our facilities during such a time, when we are all working tirelessly and collectively to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.” Eugene Kaspersky, CEO of Kaspersky, said: “Regrettably, during the past months we’ve seen many cyberattacks on hospitals and health institutions around the world, and we consider them to be nothing less than terrorist attacks.” GLOBAL Cosmetics giant, Avon, is recovering from a cybersecurity incident. The company has filed documents with the US Securities Exchange Commission disclosing the incident on June 9. The documents said that Avon Products suffered a cyber incident in its Information Technology environment which has ‘interrupted some systems and partially affected operations’. Chris Hauk, Consumer Privacy Champion at Pixel Privacy, said: “At first blush, this appears to be another cyberattack by hackers that are holding Avon systems for ransom. If this does turn out to have been a ransomware attack, it underscores the need for companies like Avon to educate their employees and executives as to the dangers of clicking links and opening attachments in emails and other communications.” 24 Issue 27 | www.intelligentciso.com