Is my store at risk of a ransom attack?

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As the number of cyber-attacks continues to rise, protecting the systems and data your supermarket relies on is more important than ever. An increasingly common type of cyber-attack is ransomware, which can have an instant financial impact as well as long-term consequences.

As the number of cyber-attacks continues to rise, protecting the systems and data your supermarket relies on is more important than ever. An increasingly common type of cyberattack is ransomware, which can have an instant financial impact as well as long-term consequences.

The concept behind ransomware is simple. Hackers encrypt all the systems, files, folders and drives and then demand a ransom to be paid before they reinstate them.

Ransomware is cheap to deploy and widespread, so even if only a few victims pay, attackers will likely make a handsome profit. As such, cyber criminals attacking in this way will typically take a “scattergun” approach in targeting their victims. Being attacked by a ransomware hacker is financially damaging for a business, and if it’s handled badly, the damage to your company’s reputation can be irreparable.

So how does that effect my supermarket you’re wondering. Imagine your point of sale, eftpos machines and cash registers were inaccessible for a day; now imagine the financial and reputational damage you’d suffer if they were down for a week.

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Goods couldn’t be scanned and even if they could most customers don’t carry cash, and if they did have cash there would be significant security concerns surrounding money handling. Not to mention all the food expiry on shelves because customer traffic had decreased substantially.

Unfortunately, there is no IT security system which has proven to be 100% cyber proof. So, to compliment a supermarket’s IT risk management is cyber insurance. Cyber insurance will cover the cost of a ransom, it will pay for emergency forensic experts to investigate the hack and solve the problem. During the down time the insurance policy will also cover your loss of profits and pay for a public relations firm to assist with any reputational damage and to let customers know your store is open for business again.

At Adroit we’re no strangers to the subject of cybercrime, and we will always be happy to share our knowledge with you. Talk to us about your cyber weak spots and ways we can help you protect your business and – if the worst happens – how we can help you with one of the growing numbers of cyber insurance policies that are available now in the market. If you would like to discuss any aspect of your supermarket insurance program, please contact our specialist supermarket Risk Advisers at Adroit Insurance & Risk on 1300 My Adroit for a free health check on your supermarket insurance program.