What Happened?
Just in time for the Halloween candy rush, candy giant Ferrara Candy Co was the latest victim of a ransomware attack.
Ferrara is the producer of such classics as Brach’s candy corn, Famous Amos cookies, Keebler, Nerds, Red Hots, Now and Laters, Lemonheads, Pixy Stix, Everlasting Gobstoppers, Trolli Gummy Worms, Sweetarts, and Laffy Taffy. Many of which are hot ticket items for American trick-or-treaters.
According to a spokesperson, hackers made their way into the Ferrara network, leaving a ransom note on October 9. Upon discovery that they had been hacked, Ferrara immediately secured their systems and reached out to third party IT specialists to assist in restoration. The company had to shut down certain manufacturing facilities and push the overload orders to some of their other locations. They aren’t disclosing whether a ransom was in fact paid.
Luckily for those of us with a sweet tooth, Ferrara shipped much of its Halloween candy to retailers in August. But ransomware attacks are no laughing matter. What is unseen is that outside of damaged reputation, these attacks can even lead to lawsuits for things like violated SLAs.
How Can I Prevent Ransomware Attacks?
All of this is further evidence that MSPs need to be prioritizing email security. The security provided by email hosts like Microsoft is simply not enough anymore.
For Mailprotector, email security is all we do. Our aim is to create the most secure, partner-friendly tool out there to help you stay on top of email security. Read more about what you can do to prepare in our blog, “How to Prevent Ransomware Attacks.”
BONUS RESOURCE
Preventing Ransomware Attacks eBook (PDF)
Read an in-depth summary where we look at several recent ransomware attacks to break down exactly what happened, which ransomware prevention plans worked, and which ones didn’t hold up when it mattered the most.
