Ransomware is a common form of cybersecurity threat facing high-profile companies. Within the previous year, two of the world’s largest companies (U.S fuel pipeline and meat-packing company) experienced ransomware attacks.
During this period, people’s livelihoods were affected due to loss of files, ransom payments, low productivity, legal fees, IT costs, and network modifications. Ransomware is a costly and sinister form of malware that has taken the business and IT world by storm. While cybersecurity can prevent or manage a ransomware incident, what is it, and how can IT Services in Del City, OK, do to prevent it?
How Does Ransomware Work, and What is it?
Ransomware criminals target large or small companies where they know there’s a lot at stake for the victims if they don’t pay what’s asked of them. When cybercriminals make ransomware, they encrypt documents and files on the network. Once these are encrypted, you can’t open them until you pay up.
Afterward, they provide decryption keys for you to unlock your files. Recently, cybercriminals have expanded to blackmail by stealing sensitive data. They copy sensitive files before triggering encryption and expose them when you fail to make ransom payments.
How Do You Know You’ve Been Hit with Ransomware?
Malware from an attack encrypts files across your business networks, even those in the Cloud. You can tell that you’ve been hit with ransomware when the following happens:
- A message pops up on the infected computer’s screen.
- The message is usually something like, “Oops, your documents have been encrypted.” It also tells you to pay a particular amount of money, either in bitcoin or another cryptocurrency, for anonymity. This way, you can receive the decryption code.
- Failure to pay within the specified time, there’s a threat in the message to delete or expose files.
Why are There Many Ransomware Attacks, and How do Businesses Get Infected?
Law enforcement, such as the FBI, discourages ransom payments. However, many public and private sector organizations recognize that this might be the only way to save their businesses and continue running. Cybercriminals do their research before an attack and infect businesses in the following ways:
- Send a phishing email that has an infected attachment.
- Send emails that link to malicious websites containing the malware.
How Can You Protect Your Business from Experiencing Ransomware?
The cybercrime world is constantly upgrading tactics to attack your company. You can stay ahead of ransomware threats through vigilance and cybersecurity expertise from IT professionals.
Investing in a IT Services in Del City, OK will do wonderings in setting a business owners mind at ease, when it comes to protecting company records, client files and so much more. IT companies guarantee you the best defense against ransomware attacks. They manage the target areas by cybercriminals against your network. You can protect your business through email and patch management, acquiring anti-malware tools, and disaster/backup recovery.
Cyber-attacks, ransomware included, have been on the rise for years. Although more steps are being made towards strengthening the U.S cybersecurity defenses, organizations need to equip themselves with the right tools and IT Services in Del City, OK, to save them from the costs that come with unpreparedness for such attacks. This way, you can continue running your company towards success with peace of mind.