Cyber Security Threat Summary:
The Clorox Company, a prominent multinational consumer goods firm known for its household and professional cleaning, health, and personal care products, recently faced a cybersecurity breach that compelled them to take specific systems offline. Detecting unauthorized activity on their Information Technology (IT) systems, Clorox swiftly initiated measures to halt and rectify the situation, including offline system shutdowns, as stated in an 8-K filing. While working diligently to manage the issue and cooperating with law enforcement, the company implemented contingencies to ensure continuous customer service. In response to the breach, Clorox fortified its systems with added protective measures, even though the exact nature of the attack was not disclosed. The involvement of law enforcement and third-party cybersecurity experts for investigation highlights the seriousness of the incident, with potential data theft by the attackers remaining uncertain. The disruption caused by the breach has impacted business operations, emphasizing the challenge faced by the company in maintaining its services.

Security Officer Comments:
If attackers get into a chemical company's network, they could steal important secrets, mess up products, harm the environment, and put people's health at risk. They might also demand money to fix things, mess up the supply of materials, and cause financial problems. This is why it's super important for chemical companies to have strong cybersecurity to prevent these bad things from happening.

Suggested Correction(s):
Backup your data, system images, and configurations, regularly test them, and keep the backups offline: Ensure that backups are regularly tested and that they are not connected to the business network, as many ransomware variants try to find and encrypt or delete accessible backups. Maintaining current backups offline is critical because if your network data is encrypted with ransomware, your organization can restore systems.

Update and patch systems promptly: This includes maintaining the security of operating systems, applications, and firmware in a timely manner. Consider using a centralized patch management system; use a risk- based assessment strategy to drive your patch management program.

Test your incident response plan: There's nothing that shows the gaps in plans more than testing them. Run through some core questions and use those to build an incident response plan: Are you able to sustain business operations without access to certain systems? For how long? Would you turn off your manufacturing operations if business systems such as billing were offline?

Check Your Security Team's Work: Use a 3rd party pen tester to test the security of your systems and your ability to defend against a sophisticated attack. Many ransomware criminals are aggressive and sophisticated and will find the equivalent of unlocked doors.

Segment your networks: There's been a recent shift in ransomware attacks – from stealing data to disrupting operations. It's critically important that your corporate business functions and manufacturing/production operations are separated and that you carefully filter and limit internet access to operational networks, identify links between these networks and develop workarounds or manual controls to ensure ICS networks can be isolated and continue operating if your corporate network is compromised. Regularly test contingency plans such as manual controls so that safety critical functions can be maintained during a cyber incident.

Train employees: Email remains the most vulnerable attack vector for organizations. Users should be trained how to avoid and spot phishing emails. Multi Factor authentication can help prevent malicious access to sensitive services.

Link(s):
https://securityaffairs.com/149585/cyber-crime/clorox-company-cyber-attack.html