Baker McKenzie partner Cyrus Vance, the former Manhattan District Attorney, analyzes some high-profile cyber attacks and offers advice to governments and companies on how to combat digital crimes against industry and agencies. Last month, San Francisco’s Bay Area Rapid Transit, California’s largest transit system, suffered a ransomware attack that exposed highly sensitive data from the agency’s own police department. Vice Society, the prolific ransomware group that claimed responsibility for the attack, stole everything from master employee lists to crime lab reports and made them public, putting lives at risk. This was just the latest in a long list of cyber attacks targeting transit systems and national infrastructure, and it certainly won’t be the last. During my 12 years as Manhattan District Attorney, I witnessed the harmful effects of cybersecurity threats. Cybercrime in New York City impacts massive financial institutions, retailers, and infrastructure providers every day. These entities are attractive targets of cybercriminals, whether for financial or political reasons. Range of Actors When an organization is attacked, it’s hard to know the source—could it be a nation state, a cybercrime group, or someone from within the organization? Nation-state actors and their proxies are constantly re-branding and re-inventing to avoid detection. […]
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