How to stop cyber-attacks on your organisation

Chief executives and public leaders still ignore the threat of cybercrime to national security. What can be done to lessen the risks?

Late last year, the German Federal Office for Information Security revealed in a report that an unnamed German steel mill had suffered "massive damage" following a cyber-attack.

Hackers had infiltrated the company's corporate network using an email that tricked employees into opening a malicious attachment known generally as malware. Once the malware was installed, the attackers were able to leap around the steel mill's IT systems, eventually damaging the production network to the extent that a blast furnace could not shut down, causing significant material damage.