Your Business Needs to be Very Cognizant About Ransomware

In 2017, ransomware became an immense risk for businesses, so when discussing how diabolical actors will be leveraging new ransomware streams in 2018, you have to do so with urgency. Let's take a look at ransomware and some trends you have to be very aware of going forward.

Ransomware
Ransomware is the most honest of malware. Once it infects your device or network, you are given an option: pay or "else". With the number of devices with Internet connectivity and the amount every business seems to be relying on these devices growing rapidly, it presents numerous opportunities for ransomware infection.

Still, if you don’t allow the ransomware bug in, then you don't have to deal with it and all the issues that it brings. That is why proactive measures are imperative to an organization’s anti-ransomware policies. Your staff will be responsible for keeping malware out of your businesses network, which is why training them to look for suspicious variables in the emails they get is critical. In 2018, the best defense against ransomware is awareness.

Encourage Organizational Cybersecurity Awareness
First you will want to deduce if your organization is in an industry that will be more apt to be targeted by ransomware. If you hold a significant amount of sensitive data, or are very reliant on your information systems, your company is a popular choice to be a victim of ransomware. Industries such as healthcare, education, government, finance, and utilities receive the most ransomware attacks, but other businesses have been victimized as well.

Even with the growth in ransomware attacks, and the new and different attributes each strain has, the main reason your business would be hit with a ransomware attack is because the hackers involved thought attacking it would provide a nice return for them. From 2016-2017 there was nearly a 74 percent increase in the types of ransomware, but saw those strains used on fewer organizations than in the past.

Ransomware can also be a competition. Since the arrival of the ransomware malware, cybersecurity has changed. Now anyone determined enough can buy a ransomware-as-a-service model that provides developers financial gain and gives less experienced hackers a tool in which to bring chaos to anyone's computing networks.

For the IT administrator, there's potential for numerous problems. Doing what you can to ensure that your company’s staff is trained on industry best practices, that your network is equipped with a powerful security platform, and that it is constantly monitored and maintained, is the only way that you can prevent a ransomware attack.

For those businesses looking for a comprehensive network and cybersecurity platform, or that are interested in backing up their data to ensure that any malware won’t seize their business, call the IT professionals at Macro Systems today at 703-359-9211.