Cyber attack recruiter advises 'stay on the ball'

THE boss of a Tyneside recruitment agency that suffered a cyber attack in recent weeks has called on other small businesses to be vigilant.

- TOM KEIGHLEY

Ashleigh Wright, the managing director of Gateshead-based Westwray Recruitment, now believes it is “not a case of if but when” it will happen to other firms, having dealt with the fallout of a botched ransomware attack at the hands of online criminals.

Westwray’s team of 20 have worked around the clock to pick up the pieces after a weekend attack left them without access to the £6.5m turnover firm's systems.

Following investigations by the company’s IT provider, it became apparent an attack had taken place and some encrypted data lost that is thought to be low value found elsewhere on the web.

However, Westwray is hopeful the hackers have been unable to access the data owing to a specialist software it uses and supported by the fact the business has not received a ransom note demanding money.