Wondering what a ransomware attack will cost your company? According to research from Accenture, the costs went up by 27% between 2016 and 2017, and experts expect that trend to continue from 2017 to 2018. Ransomware is widely seen as a lucrative form of cybercrime, which explains why so many cybercriminals lean toward this method of attack. How can you protect your organization?
The True Cost of a Breach
First off, it’s important to note that the cost of an attack goes beyond what you have to pay the cybercriminal to gain access to the important data they’ve held hostage. While the cost of that alone can be significant, you also have to factor in associated costs related to investigations, digital forensics and the detection, quarantining and removal of ransomware vehicles such as malware.
Even after you’ve paid your ransom and obtained from the cybercriminal what you need to get your data back, there is often a lag in decrypting it. For example, if you’re part of a larger organization with thousands of computers, each with hundreds of gigabytes of data on them, the decryption and recovery period could take at least a week. That’s a long time to be off the grid, which means some organizations will never fully recover.
Without access to valuable data and without a fully functioning computer system, most businesses can’t deliver their products and services. When hospitals get hit, they can’t treat patients effectively. So, the cost is not only damaging to the existence of a business, but also to the health of human beings.
Protecting Against Attack
One of the best ways to take yourself out of the crosshairs is to back up your data daily. The best solutions involve a remote, cloud-based archiving method whereby the data is not connected to your network. This means that even if your computers get hit, you won’t have to pay the attackers because your data is stored safely off-site.
Educating the workforce on the ways attackers get into your system is also crucial. The most common form of introducing viruses that contain ransomware is through phishing. Emails are spammed out to businesses every day, and they carry enticing clickbait that has a malicious side to it. Educate your employees about the dangers of clicking on anything in an email.
Cybercriminals have gone beyond email to include something called malvertising, which is when the malware is slipped into advertisers’ networks. Big names, such as the New York Times and the BBC, have been hit with these attacks.
Bring in a Third Party
At Computer Security Solutions, we have security protections that you need to protect your company against malicious attacks. This includes email security, because we know over 90% of ransomware starts with email. Contact us today and let’s talk about how we can create solutions to your ransomware problem.