As awareness of ransomware continues to grow globally, so does the sophistication and efforts of cybercriminals to successfully carry out these detrimental attacks on large and small businesses alike. An article on Entrepreneur gives us some great insight on the severity of ransomware as well as simple steps to protect yourself from falling victim.
Small businesses in the United States are losing over $75 billion dollars a year as a result of ransomware.
These cyber attacks literally hold data for ransom, and since organizations are only as strong as their data, ransomware can easily wipe out even the most stable of businesses in the blink of an eye.”
Although it is no secret that ransomware attacks are occurring at an increased rate, cybercriminals rarely face consequences for carrying out these attacks, which are most commonly orchestrated by large criminal organizations. While these criminals are well trained on how to lure individuals into their traps, business owners often fail to recognize the value of educating their organizations on current security threats.
In a recent survey by Datto, more than 91 percent of IT service providers reported that their small business clients were victimized by ransomware in the past year; and 40 percent experienced six or more attacks in that same timeframe.”
You may be questioning why federal agencies are not more involved in taking down these criminal organizations, but the answer is simple. Due to a major lack of incident reports, federal agencies do not have an accurate picture of how frequently businesses are affected by ransomware.
Last year, nearly 2,500 complaints about ransomware were registered with the FBI representing more than $1.6 million in damages alone. However, the true ransomware numbers are likely to be far higher, as Datto’s survey showed that less than one in four ransomware incidents are actually reported to authorities.”
Ransomware can be devastating to your business, but it doesn’t have to be!
Ransom demands are typically fairly low, typically between $500 and $2000 — but that’s only a small fraction of what a business stands to lose in an attack. It’s the revenue lost during the incident’s downtime that follows that can be devastating.”
3 simple methods to protecting your organization:
- Education
Datto’s survey showed that phishing emails and lack of employee training are the top causes of ransomware infection. So, education for employees, partners, customers and the general IT community can go a long way in protecting businesses.”
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- Security
Attackers are constantly using (and improving) social engineering techniques, which enable their strains of malware to remain effective. That’s why a robust IT security strategy and up-to-date technologies are essential.”
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- Data protection
Ensuring that your business data and systems are backed up regularly and restorable immediately is fast becoming the primary way businesses protect themselves from these attacks…”
With no end in sight for ransomware, the time is now to protect your business from overwhelming loss caused by cybercriminals!
