On Friday, access to major websites, including twitter, Netflix and the New York Times, was shut down as the result of a massive distributed denial-of-service attack just after 7 a.m. When Twitter couldn’t be reached officials originally thought that Donald Trump was simply sending out too many tweets complaining about media bias following his botched debate performance and cratering poll numbers but the attack was actually a sophisticated assault on a New Hampshire company called Dyn that helps direct internet traffic. Just joking about the Trump stuff. The bad guys would never want to shut down Trump.
Why should you care? Because the attacks demonstrate the (1)importance of cybersecurity mitigation based on the size and complexity of your credit union operations (2) The need for contracts that memorialize vendor liability and oversite and (3)the need for policymakers to take a holistic approach to cybersecurity that involves all industries shouldering responsibility to mitigate cyber threats. Your credit union might not be directly at risk but your vendor very well could be.
