The reason that we hear about more ransomware attacks is that they work. The reason they work is that our online behavior is still all too predictable, including our willingness to pay a ransom. You need to understand the type of practices and targets that ransomware attackers look for, to protect yourself and your business.
Municipalities and small businesses
There’s been an uptick in ransomware attacks on small businesses and towns (both big and small) across the US. Although every business and city is unique, they all have a few characteristics in common. Small businesses run on a limited budget, as do most municipalities and unfortunately cybersecurity measures still take a backseat to other necessary and immediate expenditures. While no one can afford to go offline and be locked out of their network by a ransomware attack, small businesses and municipalities are particularly vulnerable to any disruption. That will, in turn, increase their willingness to pay the ransom.
Ransomware attacks are increasingly targeting small businesses and municipalities.
Missing software updates
Another characteristic is the way we work, allowing more and more employees to work remotely. That means taking work computers home, sometimes even allowing employees to use their own devices to access work data. Remote working has opened a big door for ransomware attacks. All it takes is one work device missing a software update on a business trip or on a “work from home” day, or one wrong click on a phishing email, and the virus is active. As soon as that employee comes back to work to log into the network, the virus will spread infecting all data and causing mayhem.
Loss of data vs. loss of integrity
Being locked out of your network by ransomware is a disruption that most businesses and municipalities can’t afford. With backup and disaster recovery tools, you may be able to recreate all the data that is being held ransom or has been encrypted by hackers. What is harder to recreate and regain is your integrity and credibility with clients and partners. It takes a long time to build up a good reputation in any industry. But it only takes one ransomware attack or one successful phishing scam to lose your good standing.
Ransomware solutions
With the right ransomware and virus protection, you can stay one step ahead of any hackers. Talk to IT experts about securing your data with firewalls, anti-virus protection, data encryption, backup, and disaster recovery solutions.
