How Should Organizations in Sacramento Prepare for Ransomware?
70% of Ransomware Attacks Targeted Small Businesses in 2018. The Average Demand? A Staggering $116,000… So How Should Small Businesses Prepare for Ransomware? Here’s What a Leading Sacramento IT Company Recommends…
According to a recent report, 70% of ransomware attacks targeted small businesses in 2018. The average demand was a staggering $116,000… That’s a lot of money for a small business already operating on a tight budget. Ransomware is on the rise with millions of attacks taking place every year. Cybercriminals are becoming more sophisticated than ever before – mixing and matching malware components to create complex variants that often go undetected, especially for those who are using outdated security software.
How Does Ransomware Protection Work?
We’ve all heard of viruses, malware, and other sorts of cybercrime. But ransomware is rather new. In 2013, we saw the first few variants of ransomware hit a range of businesses. Since then, it’s only gotten worse. Essentially, a cybercriminal is able to hack into the system, encrypt all of the valuable files, and demand the victim pay for the decryption key. Some attacks encrypt the most valuable files while others encrypt the entire hard drive.
In many cases, even if the victim manages to clean the ransomware out of their system, their files are still encrypted. It can be difficult to recover from something like this, but paying the ransom isn’t typically recommended as it feeds into the cycle – giving cybercriminals more money to dedicate towards their efforts.
What Does a Ransomware Attack Look Like?
Typically, a victim is going about their day as usual – working on various tasks on their computer, and suddenly, the screen goes blue. A message similar to the following appears:
“YOUR COMPUTER IS LOCKED. All of your files have been encrypted. You can decrypt your files by paying XYZ bitcoin.”
The cybercriminal will typically include some type of instructions to make a payment via a bitcoin wallet.
How Does Ransomware Spread Without Ransomware Protection?
There are all kinds of ways ransomware is spread. Typically, cybercriminals rely on tricking their victims into downloading a malicious software. This may include:
- Email attachments wherein the cybercriminal tricks the victim into clicking a link, sending sensitive information or otherwise giving them access to the system. They will pretend to be a credible source, such as a bank or some sort of government agency to do this.
- Websites wherein malicious code is embedded into a page to exploit vulnerabilities within a browser or operating system when the website is visited by an unsuspecting victim. The cybercriminal may use banner ads, text links or popups to direct victims to the website.
Why Sacramento Organizations Need Reliable Ransomware Protection?
Absolutely, as long as you choose an IT company that specializes in cybersecurity. TLC Tech has one mission: to make our clients daily operations more driven and efficient. How do we do this? We proactively prevent issues from occurring in the first place with around-the-clock monitoring, regular maintenance, and of course, cybersecurity solutions that protect against ransomware, including:
- Enterprise-grade security solutions that are compiled into a multi-layered approach with firewalls, anti-virus software, intrusion detection software, web content filtering, and more.
- Cybersecurity training for employees to teach them about proper best practices in terms of online safety, such as how to create a strong password or how to detect a phishing email.
- Data backup and business continuity planning that keeps all of your important applications and data backed up and ready to recover in the event that ransomware manages to get into the network.
Get the ransomware protection you need.
A lax approach to cybersecurity isn’t enough now – and it’s certainly not going to be enough as even more sophisticated, advanced threats come out. Contact us. Our ransomware protection services are anything but lax.
