Cyberattack on Data Storage Giant Underscores SideChannel Inc. (SDCH) Mission to Provide Cybersecurity Expertise to Unexpectedly Vulnerable Companies

• Cybersecurity services and technology provider SideChannel Inc. outsources the expertise of its “virtual chief information security officers” (“vCISOs”) to companies that can’t afford to maintain a full-time, permanent CISO on staff
• SideChannel also offers a product called Enclave that helps companies to manage the microsegmentation of their networks to enhance their cybersecurity, either as a SaaS tool clients can manage or ask SideChannel to manage
• SideChannel has also strengthened its cybersecurity services by partnering with London-based automated supply chain risk management platform developer Darkbeam
• The importance of cybersecurity management was recently underscored by the massive attack on data storage company Western Digital, which disrupted key services and is still being dealt with more than two weeks after the malicious incident was first reported

The massive cyberattack on data storage giant Western Digital that was reported earlier this month demonstrates the persistence of concerns about effectively securing corporate networks against unwanted intrusions. 

Massachusetts-based cybersecurity services and technology provider SideChannel (OTCQB: SDCH) has centered its mission on informing small-to-mid-sized SMB companies about the importance of securing their networks against malicious attacks. SideChannel’s flagship service is the provision of virtual chief information security officers (“vCISOs”) on a contract basis to companies that need help with cybersecurity but are unable to hire a full-time CISO. 

“We’re seeing attacks increase. We’re seeing the costs of these attacks increase over time. And we’re seeing (the nature of the attacks) change,” SideChannel CEO Brian Haugli stated in a live company webcast recently (https://ibn.fm/j3iHu).

Western Digital has a substantial share of the localized-access hard disk drive and solid state drive markets and owns flash drive maker SanDisk, but also operates online-access storage services under the My Cloud and SanDisk brands. 

Hackers responsible for the cyberattack have demanded ransom of a “minimum 8 figures” to inform Western Digital about its cybersecurity vulnerabilities and to forestall their threat to release around 10 terabytes of the company’s data online, according to industry magazine TechCrunch, which claims it has spoken with one of the hackers since the April 3 disclosure of the incident (https://ibn.fm/zEv9v).

The report states the cyberattack was apparently extensive, including internal corporate emails, unpublished administrative personnel information, a back-end platform that helps companies manage e-commerce data, and, perhaps most critically, the company’s code-signing certificate, showing they could now digitally sign files to impersonate Western Digital. 

“Depending on what code and data the hackers got access to, the worst-case scenario is that cyber criminals could create malicious firmware — and signed certificates to vouch for its authenticity. That could make malicious activity on any affected hardware difficult to detect and render it essentially worthless,” IT magazine eSecurity Planet stated in its report on the incident (https://ibn.fm/mDoov).

SideChannel’s vCISOs can work directly with companies’ executive boards, inserted into the administrative operation as a virtual member of the team. In addition to the vCISO service, SideChannel offers a microsegmentation security product named Enclave that clients can either use on their own as a software-as-a-service (“SaaS”) tool on a subscription basis or ask SideChannel to manage. 

“We’re going to continue to develop around Enclave, adding new features and capabilities that make sense for how Enclave is structured — based … on what we’re seeing in our clients, what we’re hearing from our CISOs and what types of attacks or attack surface is out there,” Haugli said. 

For more information, visit the company’s website at www.SideChannel.com.

NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to SDCH are available in the company’s newsroom at https://ibn.fm/SDCH

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