In early January Super Steel became the victim of a ransom demand after their network, including a remote Sydney based server, was hacked according to manager Donna George.

“We had all our data completely wiped out, and ransomed,” Ms George said.

“They asked for a fair amount of money just to get our information back.

“We think it might have come through an email attachment or document, but we can’t be sure.”

Fortunately Super Steel were able to rely on a system backup which was not breached, however the incident still cost the business thousands of dollars in lost time, new hardware and IT bills.

“We didn’t pay because how would we know if they would release the data anyway,” Ms George said.

“Three weeks later we are still ironing out a few little issues – it has taught us to be very vigilant though.”

Adcorp IT consultant Paul Adnett said that cyber attacks such as this happen every day in Tamworth, and as computers and the internet become faster so do the attacks.

“Ransomware and hack attacks are very prevalent, and because the hackers have had 20 years of practice they are getting better,” he said.

“The attacks are generally targeted these days, and generally the hackers will already have a large amount of data collected about you.”

Unfortunately Mr Adnett sees new victims every week, and said there is no silver bullet to protect an individual or business.

“The same old rules apply – strong passwords and good virus protection, but generally it is the person that is the weakest link,” he said.

“Make sure that you have backups that are not left connected to your computer, and if you do think you have been compromised pull the plug out of the wall and call a consultant.”