Reuters reported Tuesday the FBI issued a so-called flashwarning to U.S. businesses regarding a highly malicious anddestructive cyberattack on an American company. Although thecompany was unnamed in the flash warning, most assume it to be SonyPictures Entertainment, which recently experienced an attack likethe one described in the warning. The warning describes a broadclass of malware called wiper malware.

“The primary purpose of wiper malware is to overwrite sectionsof a hard drive on an infected computer in an attempt to removetraces of the malware itself, along with large portions of data orin some cases all stored information on the drive,” Jim Stickley,CEO of Stickley on Security, told CU Times. “In allversions the master boot record is also overwritten, causing theoperating system to fail.”

Stickley added that wiper malware is often used in conjunctionwith other malware. For example, malware designed to stealconfidential information might launch a wiper malware component tocover its own tracks.

“I would strongly encourage all credit unions to review theirbackup policies not only on critical servers, but also ondesktops,” Stickley said. “In addition, because this malware couldspread quickly and can render employee workstations inoperable,credit unions should also review their disaster recovery plans andensure that contingencies are in place to maintain business in theevent of a wide-scale workstation outage.”

Finally, Stickley said that credit unions should also do theirpart to warn members, both consumer and business, about the risksof wiper malware. “There is no better way to combat cyber threatsthan with awareness and education,” he concluded.