BotNet News

Ransomware has become one of the most lucrative tactics for cyber criminals. It takes advantage of security weaknesses and holds your data hostage, demanding a ransom payment to unlock it.

Hackers often target education, healthcare and manufacturing, because they are most likely to find lax cybersecurity measures. Small and midsize businesses (SMBs) are also popular targets because they may not have a large team of IT professionals to respond quickly to an attack.

Once ransomware is on your system, it encrypts your files and displays a message to demand payment for the decryption key. The amount of the ransom varies, and it is paid via hard-to-trace digital currencies such as Bitcoin. It isn’t always possible to recover files after paying the ransom, though, because of implementation mistakes, leaked keys or incomplete encryption.

Cybercriminals use ransomware to steal money, hold your data hostage and disrupt your business. Unlike other types of malware that are designed to exploit flaws in the Internet of Things, ransomware doesn’t require sophisticated programming and is easy for anyone with access to the dark web to purchase.

The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the shift to remote work, and the result is an increased risk of ransomware attacks. Hospitals can reduce the risk by understanding how ransomware works, updating their cybersecurity and enterprise risk management practices, and communicating to staff, public policy organizations, law enforcement agencies and legislators the nature and seriousness of these new threats. They can also improve their ability to recover from an attack by having a tested response plan, including backups, and by running anti-malware software on all devices.