HBO, the US cable channel and a unit of Time Warner, accepted last week that the company has been on the receiving end of a cyber - attack, which has resulted in theft of proprietary information, including some upcoming programs. The incident is similar to the Sony Pictures hack in December 2014, which was one of the biggest attacks on an entertainment company until then. Almost 200 gigabytes (GB) of data was stolen, including and not limited to personal information about employees and their families, emails, executives’ salaries, and copies of then-unreleased Sony films. The HBO hackers have claimed that they have access to 1.5 terabytes of data, which is roughly 7 times that of Sony. But it is not just international companies that are being targeted. Closer home, an unreleased episode of HBO’s most premium property, Game of Thrones, was leaked online — with a Star India watermark earlier this month. Many Bollywood (and other language) movies keep getting leaked online on the day of release and, in some cases, even before that.
For any company, any cyber - attack can go to the core of our business — the precious media content & that can be disastrous, to say the least. We have seen recent hacks where original programming has been stolen, and for any media company that is something absolutely non – negotiable. With all digital environments today, it is all the more important to protect your businesses. Attacks like these are direct strikes at the core of media businesses. Feels there is low respect for intellectual property in India. Everyone knows that downloading torrents or from other websites is illegal, but there is low compliance with laws.
In a lot of leaks, cyber threats exploit insiders. They give in because of greed, or do not follow the process, or are targeted for their access. In majority of cases employees were the weak link. Technology is not a problem. The weakest link or vulnerability in the entire chain are the employees or internal teams.
Also, sophisticated cyber - attacks like Ransomware are demonstrating the need for enhanced internal security protocols and controls within organizations to minimize the threat profile from such targeted attacks. Constant vigilance and adequate preparedness are the need of the hour.
While many of the companies are focusing on monitoring, the bigger question is, how safe these companies against cyber threats are??