ThinkTWENTY20

Ransomware is continuing to plague many organization, particularly those with large holdings of sensitive data, like educational institutions and government departments.

A Ransomware attacker gains entry into a victim’s system, encrypts their files thus making them inaccessible and then demands a ransom payment from the victim before providing the encryption key to enable the victim to gain access to their own files. The costs can range from a few hundred dollars to many thousands or even millions, often payable in Bitcoin. 

Paying the ransom is usually not a good idea because it does not address the original weakness that made the intrusion possible. Ransomware insurance is worth considering, but also cannot replace proper security policy and procedure.

As one source puts it, “Organizations must patch aggressively, establish complete backups, prepare a comprehensive response plan, and focus on educational training for every employee to make sure they are prepared to manage attacks and continue with little disruption.” Follow this link for further information.

Proper controls must be adopted proactively and with a great deal of diligence. They cost money and time to develop and maintain. But in the end, this cost may well be a lot less than the alternatives of responding to a successful attack.

The Gartner report “Detect, Protect, Recover: How Modern Backup Applications Can Protect You From Ransomware” can be downloaded from their site.