According to reports of cyber forensics course specialists from the International Institute of Cyber Security (IICS), The Weather Channel (TWC), a U.S. television network focused on the weather forecast, suffered a critical cybersecurity incident that forced to shut the live transmission of the channel; it is believed that it could be a severe ransomware attack.
On Monday morning, the TWC team had to broadcast a recorded program instead of its regular live broadcasting due to a cyberattack that prevented live streaming on the channel; more details about the incident are still unknown.
Through a statement, TWC reported: “This morning we experienced some problems with live streaming due to malicious software detected on our networks. Thanks to our backup systems we managed to restore our regular broadcasting; the federal authorities are investigating the incident.
Channel presenters apologized for the drawbacks when the transmission was revived, adding that the signal was interrupted by the aforementioned cyberattack; Experts in cyber forensics course still do not know technical details of the attack against TWC, it is also ignored if this was an attack directed against the TV channel or if it is a coincidence.
The developers of some variants of ransomware and other kinds of malicious software have shown a growing interest in attacking big targets, such as television networks, although in practice there are few occasions when the attackers try to infect companies like this in a direct way.
According to the cyber forensics course experts, it is possible that the attackers were able to access the networks of TWC thanks to a little careful employee. Some member of the channel’s administrative staff could have received and interacted with a malicious email and that is more than enough for the attackers to get into their target. The cybersecurity community remains in the expectation that more details about the incident will be revealed by the television network.
He is a well-known expert in mobile security and malware analysis. He studied Computer Science at NYU and started working as a cyber security analyst in 2003. He is actively working as an anti-malware expert. He also worked for security companies like Kaspersky Lab. His everyday job includes researching about new malware and cyber security incidents. Also he has deep level of knowledge in mobile security and mobile vulnerabilities.
