Cyber attacks a wake-up call to firms to invest

The admission of global consumer goods giant Reckitt Benckiser that a recent global cyber attack cost it millions in revenue should be a wake-up call to all businesses that nobody is immune, warns an Irish cyber security expert.

Dublin-based Ward Solutions chief executive Pat Larkin said companies are finally beginning to accept that cyber security is necessary and not a luxury following recent attacks such as WannaCry in May and a June 27 attack that hit several major companies, along with Russia’s biggest oil firm and Ukrainian banks, disrupting ports from Mumbai to Los Angeles and halting production at factories.

Reckitt, which makes Dettol and Lysol disinfectants, Nurofen tablets, and Durex condoms, said it estimated like-for-like revenue in the second quarter would fall 2% from a year earlier because of the attack, which hit three days before the quarter ended.