Nizich Shares Cybersecurity Expertise with Newsday

Newsday tapped the cybersecurity expertise of Michael Nizich, Ph.D., director of the ETIC and adjunct associate professor of computer science, for an article about a ransomware attack targeting the medical supply company Henry Schein. Nizich notes that the cybercrime group BlackCat, which has claimed responsibility for the attack, generally gains access to computer systems through messages, emails, or texts that phish users. Once in, the group can exploit loopholes to access other parts of the system and steal data, which they then encrypt, preventing the company from accessing it. For a price, the group offers to restore the targeted organization’s access to the data, but Nizich warns businesses that, even if a deal is struck, at the end of the day, these are criminals, and there’s no guarantee that they won’t sell or otherwise exploit the data in the future.