Privacy group seeks to put faces on cyberattack victims
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A privacy group launched a campaign Monday aiming to show the human toll that cyberattacks have taken on activists, businesses and institutions.
Why it matters: Scams have been taking a huge financial and operational toll on institutions around the world, but they are often downplayed, limiting public awareness.
Details: Digital Peace Now launched the #stillvulnerable campaign, highlighting the experiences of 10 different victims of cyberattacks.
- Heidi Kuhn, the CEO of nonprofit Roots of Peace, shares how her humanitarian group, which was doing work in Afghanistan, was tricked into wiring over $1 million to a Chinese bank account.
- Viktor Zhora, the deputy head of Ukraine's cybersecurity agency, talks about having to fight a digital war alongside a conventional one.
- Other stories include a worker at JBS Foods, the world's largest meatpacker, which was hit with an $11 million ransomware attack and Tim Brown, a VP of Cybersecurity at SolarWinds.
- Also included anonymously are the experiences of a Lincoln College student whose school closed after a cyberattack, a patient whose hospital was attacked and a crypto investor whose wallet was taken over via a phishing scam.
What they're saying: "Cyberattacks do not discriminate — they can impact anyone, regardless of their background," Digital Peace Now says on its website. "Until our world leaders take meaningful action to protect our shared digital space, we are all #StillVulnerable."
- Ukraine's Viktor Zhora: "Cyberspace has no borders. Hackers wear no stripes and can hide their origins. ... There is no doubt that the cyberwar will go on even after the conventional hostilities are over.”
- Lama Fakih, Human Rights Watch: “You may have already been subjected to surveillance technology like this and not even know it. Guess what? By the time you find out, it’s too late.”
