WPP has reportedly been subject to a significant global cyber attack, with reports of systems crashing and ransom demands. Several WPP agencies, including GroupM, MediaCom and Y&R, are thought to be affected by the attack, which began this afternoon (27 June).
Mary Heather, senior director at WPP-owned agency Burson-Marsteller, confirmed the attack on Twitter, stating that the agency currently had “no access to technology.” There is also an email currently circulating, which has reportedly been sent to WPP agency staff, who have been been told that it is affecting all “Windows servers, PCs and laptops.” It stresses that all Windows machines “must be turned off and disconnected immediately until further notice” while investigations into the hack take place. WPP’s main website has also been affected and is currently down at the time of writing.
"IT systems in several WPP companies have been affected by a suspected cyber attack. We are assessing the situation, taking appropriate measures and will update as soon as possible"
WPP is not the only company thought to be impacted. The Ukrainian central bank, Russian oil producer Rosneft and Danish shipping company Maersk have all reported disruption as a result of a ransomeware attack this afternoon. Mercifully, all of the other big agency networks, including Publicis Groupe, have confirmed they were unaffected by the attack.
The question remains, however, why was WPP targeted? Or was it even targeted at all? Online commentators have suggested that the hack could have hit WPP indirectly as a sort of 'drive-by hack' if you will. The major questions WPP should be asking, however, is not why they were hit, but how they can stop it happening again. One obvious way to stop potential future hacks could be to actually hire hackers to work for the company, as who better to spot leaks in a system than a team of people trained to spot and exploit those leaks? Either way, they really need to up their game if they want to avoid another embarrassment like this again in the near future.
