October 21, 2023 at 04:14PM
Insurance giant American Family Insurance experienced a cyberattack, leading to the shutdown of certain IT systems. The company detected unusual activity and took precautionary measures to protect data. While no compromises to critical systems have been detected, customers faced outages and were unable to access online services. Investigations are ongoing, and the company hopes to bring systems back online soon. The nature of the attack is unclear, but it exhibits similarities to ransomware attacks that have been lucrative for cybercriminals.
Key Takeaways from Meeting Notes:
1. American Family Insurance suffered a cyberattack and had to shut down portions of its IT systems.
2. Unusual activity on the network was detected, prompting immediate precautionary measures to protect data and resources.
3. System outages have impacted customers, agents, and employees.
4. Investigation into the cyberattack is ongoing and involves internal and third-party experts.
5. No compromises to critical business or customer data processing/storage systems have been detected so far.
6. Efforts are being made to bring the systems back online while ensuring safety.
7. Customers have been unable to pay bills or file claims online, resulting in the need to contact the company via phone.
8. The attack shares similarities with ransomware attacks, where threat actors infiltrate networks, steal data, and encrypt devices.
9. Ransomware gangs have earned significant sums of money, providing a motive for such attacks.