If you aren’t familiar with ransomware, you should consider yourself lucky. It is a crude yet highly effective method of cyber attack which many industries now see as a type of data breach. The attack comes in many different flavors, some much more bitter than others, but all equally concerning. Capable of locking entire networks, seizing any and all files available, or just scaring the geek out of you for the heck of it, ransomware is very common and potentially costly form of cyber attack you need to have on your radar.
Your Most Critical Information is Being Held Hostage
As its name implies, the one thing all ransomware has in common is they will hold your IT hostage until you pay a ransom. Once a computer/infrastructure is accessed, the malicious software will typically encrypt and prevent users from accessing any files it can reach until – in the best case scenario – the user pays the perpetrator’s requested ransom. Untraceable digital currencies or gift cards are the standard payment of choice, although paying the ransom comes with no guarantees.
If You Do Not Make Payment, Your Files Will Be Deleted
Accidentally downloading ransomware is an easy mistake to make. Drive-by downloads, malvertising, downloaders, and social engineering are all avenues cyber criminals use to infect their victims, but seemingly innocent email attachments are by far the most commonly used method. What looks like the monthly bank statement you’ve been waiting for could actually be a malicious piece of software waiting to take down your system.
“Last week we had a shop user open a spam email that contained an executable attachment labeled as an “invoice” which ended up encrypting files on their server. Although it took us a total of 14 hours to recover the files and reload the user’s computer, because of Xpert Technologies’ knowledge and experience with ransomware, we were able to restore the shop’s critical info with little impact to their business.”
Tim McKeehan
Senior Network Engineer | Xpert Technologies, Inc.
Click Away with Xpert Protection
Understanding Pandora’s box could be lurking in your next email attachment is important, but so is the ability to conduct business as usual. Fortunately, Xpert Technologies offers several preventative measures as well as backup and recovery solutions that allow clients to go about their day knowing their network and data is covered – or at least able to be restored – regardless of what attachment you open.
Contact us today to learn more about which specific solutions we can help you implement to ensure business’s continuity.