Why Ransomware Remains A Threat
Ransomware remains a real problem in today's landscape. The pandemic and increased exposure of networks caused by so many more people working remotely has actually served to give bad actors more surface area to attach and has lead to sharp increases in attacks, particularly when news cycles spike. One threat that is gaining some more steam and seems to be around to stay is Ransomware.
The Basics
The biggest reason Ransomware is continuing to spread and grow is the ease of access to systems. Many organizations don't have virus protection, firewalls or backups among many other things critical to IT infrastructure and continuity plans. Whether it be because of the cost associated with having those systems in place or the feeling they are not needed, it can lead to an attacker getting easy access to a network.
The basics need to be in place. Even though the news media often portrays these programs being run by super geniuses, many attacks can be prevented with simple systems in place. The bad actors may be smart, but they will still look to take the path of least resistance when available. Increasing cyber security means that fewer and fewer organizations are without these protections in place, so it is not ideal to be one of the last remaining paths of least resistance.
Optimism Bias
Another major reason it continues to grow is optimism bias. This is the thought process that leads to people thinking "This won't happen to me", often believing that these types of attacks will only target huge corporations like Visa, Netflix, Toyota, etc.
Bad actors are aware of this and actually use this against smaller businesses. In fact, Security Magazine published back in February of 2020 that, "more than two-thirds (67 percent) of companies with fewer than 1,000 employees [have] experienced a cyberattack and 58 percent having experienced a breach." Small businesses, to these actors, are easier targets.
Don't make the mistake of thinking that your small-medium sized organization will be overlooked just because of its size.
Payouts
The overwhelmingly biggest reason for continued Ransomware attacks is that, quite frankly, they are successful. If they can make thousands of dollars easily, why not do it again?
If ransomware gets onto a network that has no secure backups, the options are to pay the ransom and hope that they gain access to the system again or build an entirely new network. Both are very expensive options, but the option most organizations take is to pay the ransom and get their systems back. It is also the option that encourages those creating these attacks to continue doing so.
The best way to recover is to simply have backups in place. With a backup in place, many systems can be restored to their previous version before the attack began. There may be some minor data loss from changes made since the last backup was completed, but that is a small price to pay compared to needing a whole new network.
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