Ransomware Cases in the News Bad For Business
The news has been filled with stories of Ransomeware attacks in recent months. From national pipelines to major healthcare facilities and neighboring government entities, the news cycles have had plenty to discuss in the realm of cyber security with so many places falling victim to ransomware.
What Is Happening As A Result?
An entire new industry has popped up in response to this threat: Cyber Insurance. Delaware County's plan covered $475,000 of the $500,000 they ended up paying to clear up their network. Colonial Pipeline paid $5 million to get their systems back online. As of the time of the writing of this article, UF Health in Florida is still attempting to overcome the events of their breach eight days later. The hackers are also asking $5 million in this case as well. The good news for these companies is that cyber insurance may foot most of the bills in these cases.
Why Is That Bad?
The bad news is that the hackers have made out with plenty of money and their success has been plastered all over the news. Not only does that mean that other bad actors will see how successful an attack can be and potentially increase the amount of their attacks, but it will likely cause a rise in the demanded asking price. Ed McAndrews of DLA Piper reports that the average demand made by hackers has risen dramatically, rising from $30,000 on average to over $500,000. Money and publicity means that this threat won't be going anywhere anytime soon.
What Can We Do?
Of course, cyber insurance is a good thing to have it is within your budget, but that should be just a starting point. This will still require a deductible be paid in the event of a breach and it relies upon the hacker truly restoring access to your device.
The other way to go is to be prepared by having backups ready to be restored from while also seeking to prevent a situation from occurring. Some ways of preventing it from happening are enabling MFA options, user training, efficient antivirus and firewall setups - all things that we have discussed in previous editions of Tech Talk News. These methods could help to stop an attack or assure a hacker receives no payment, which could to help slow attacks in the future.
