A trillion dollars is lost annually to cybercrime, worldwide. Just because your business has not been on the receiving end of a hack attempt, doesn’t mean your time won’t come.
As a matter of fact, in today’s growing digital landscape, it becomes more likely every day that you’ll have to deal with some sort of attack attempt.
Among the many ways that a business can be attacked by bad actors, ransomware is among the most nefarious. Ransomware is a special program that infects computers and servers. It locks files and threatens businesses with deletion (or worse) if they don’t pay up.
Knowledge is power when it comes to protecting yourself against ransomware, so, if you’d like to learn more about this method of attack, we suggest you keep reading to take in some impactful information.
All Organizations are Targets
Organizations big and small can fall victim to ransomware attacks. All it takes is one mistake by one employee working on a network to run into problems.
For example, The University of Colorado fell victim to a ransomware attack recently and had to pay almost half a million dollars to bad actors to keep student and faculty data safe. That means, even with sophisticated professionals backing you up, your business should always be on guard regarding the possibility of a breach.
Paying Ransomware Purveyors Keeps the Business Going
If everyone agreed to never pay ransomware purveyors, they’d go into extinction. Unfortunately, as we shared in our last point, many large organizations do pay.
Paying attackers often appears to be the lesser of evils, particularly if information that’s being locked up is of a private nature. What’s worse is that those that do pay often have to do so to the tune of exorbitant amounts. They also don’t have any guarantee that they won’t be shaken down for more money later.
Your best course of action if you’re the victim of an attack is to call the police and take their advice.
Education Is the Best Defense
Most hackers gain access to corporate files because an unsuspecting employee leaves their company’s networks vulnerable. The best way to avoid those types of situations is to subject employees to training from an IT consulting group that can make them aware of what not to do, particularly when working remotely.
While investing in training does represent an expense to your business, it pales in comparison to the costs that’ll be demanded if your data is breached.
Having a Dedicated IT Partner Helps
If your business doesn’t have dedicated IT support, get it. From training to physically building a secure network for your organization, qualified IT help is invaluable in today’s digital age.
You may be surprised by just how affordable external IT solutions can be!
Ransomware Is Targeting Businesses Today
Today, perhaps at this very moment, there is a piece of ransomware that is stalking a business, It’s waiting for someone to slip up and grant it access to a private network… While we hope that the business being targeted isn’t yours, it certainly could be.
With that in mind, we hope you’ll be proactive in protecting yourself by leaning on some of the tips we’ve shared. And remember, if you’re a victim, call the police.
For more on small business IT solutions, business ransomware, and more, check out additional write-ups on our blog.
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