[MUSIC PLAYING] - Welcome back.
Beyond the humanitarian crisis caused
by Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the war has introduced
countless other threats.
One of the most terrifying is cyber attacks.
To find out more, I decided to finally
learn how the internet works.
[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC]
Cream cheese has been missing for months.
[DOOR CLOSES]
Cream cheese?
Cream cheese.
There's a cream cheese shortage.
REPORTER: It's schmear chaos across the country.
MAN: Everybody's freaking out.
It's kind of scary.
And I needed to know why. (WHISPERS) I'm here
to talk about the cream cheese.
[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC]
According to my sources, this isn't
just about the supply chain.
It's actually hackers.
[GLITCHING SOUND]
So I'm meeting with cybersecurity expert
Dr. Rebecca Wright.
Why cream cheese, though?
Why not those sexy M&M peanuts?
They're just sitting there, waiting to be held hostage.
[GLITCHING SOUND]
And maybe they will be.
I mean, it really can be anything
from the food infrastructure--
Right.
--like the cream cheese attack,
to things like the Colonial Pipeline attack,
health care, so hospitals.
Any place you've got computer systems and a network,
there is vulnerability.
The stakes are high, and it's really quite terrifying.
OK.
[DIGITAL COMPUTING]
Cyber attacks have caused over a trillion dollars'--
[GLITCHING SOUND]
--worth damage, millions of it, most likely, from cream cheese.
In this case, hackers cyber attacked Schreiber foods--
[DIGITAL COMPUTING]
--one of the biggest cream cheese
manufacturers, holding their servers hostage.
[GLITCHING SOUND]
REBECCA WRIGHT: Typically, cyber attackers will look for a way
into a computer system.
And then there's a screen takeover with a message denying
you access to your files or threatening to share your data
with someone else, to convince that business
to pay some ransom.
If it were me holding cream cheese hostage,
I would have asked for billions, not millions.
We all need our cream cheese.
If a shortage of cream cheese isn't
enough to get public attention on this matter,
I don't know what is.
[STATIC]
No, I actually do know what is.
Russia.
The Department of Homeland Security
issued a new warning about Moscow
having the capability to carry out a range of cyber attacks
against important websites and critical infrastructure.
[SHRIEKS]
Cream cheese is just the tip of the iceberg.
(VOICEOVER) Oh, no, it's happening.
Oh, sorry. It's me, Nicole.
Let me just fix my Zoom background.
Oh, that's just Nicole Perlroth, author of "This
Is How They Tell Me The World Ends."
[CHUCKLES] But I think we all know how the world ends.
The same attack that cyber criminals used on cream cheese
could be used by a Russian state operation
or by Russian cyber criminals to shut our systems down.
SAMANTHA BEE: Ugh.
Attacks on US soil are very possible because Russia
is already here.
Is it still a cold war if your computer is on fire?
Just in the last week after Russia invaded Ukraine,
these same cyber criminal groups that have been hitting
American businesses like your cream cheese company
came out and straight up said that they're
an extension of the Kremlin--
[DIGITAL COMPUTING]
--and that they will attack the critical infrastructure
of any country that tries to intervene here.
We're sort of in this nightmare scenario right now.
You know, first it's cream cheese,
but next it could be your water, or your power, your bank.
We're all just sitting ducks.
[GLITCHING SOUND]
SAMANTHA BEE: Well, that's much worse--
[EXPLOSION]
--and much, much worse for the people of Ukraine.
Ukraine set up an IT army and basically said--
[GLITCHING SOUND]
--hey, hackers of the world, help us
by hacking Russian interests and causing as much mayhem
as you possibly can.
This is a message to Vladimir Putin.
Members of Anonymous have declared cyber war
against your aggressive regime.
It's sort of fun to root for Anonymous
because what the Russians are doing
is so horrible and hard to watch.
The danger of this is escalation,
that Putin thinks this is a thinly veiled
attack by the CIA or the NSA.
He might retaliate against western interests,
western infrastructure.
Where does this all go?
OK, well, that's terrifying.
So while we wait for private companies
and the federal government to get their shit together,
there are actual steps that regular individuals can take.
It's something called cyber hygiene.
What is cyber hygiene?
[LAUGHS]
Because we don't maybe practice the best hygiene,
like, in general.
Yes.
Cyber hygiene really can refer to things
like choosing good passwords and not reusing them--
[TYPING]
--backing up files, having up-to-date software systems.
So you're asking people to prepare.
Absolutely.
OK, preparedness--
Mm-hmm.
--and long game--
Mm-hmm.
--is not our strong suit.
[LAUGHS]
Experts say we could end 80% of these cyber attacks
tomorrow, just by spending 30 seconds setting
up 2 factor authentication.
Oh, God, I'm not going to do it!
[LAUGHS]
Ugh, it's so confusing.
It's such a boring process.
It's not the sexiest thing to think about,
but we are at risk.
And it's important.
See, that is why you need to choose an impenetrable password
like mine, creamcheeselover69.
I use it for every single password.
Oh.
[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC]
Well, see, I guess I have to change it now.
I'm sure it's fine.
[GLITCHING SOUND]
We'll be right back.
[ROCK MUSIC]