Ransomware is malware that employs encryption to hold a victim's information at ransom. A user or organisation's critical data is encrypted so that they can not access files, databases, or applications.
Unlike traditional data thefts, ransomware—the theory went—didn’t really steal data. It encrypted it so that the authorized users couldn’t get to it unless a ransom was paid. As a result, most organizations treated ransomware attacks as simply a business continuity or disaster recovery response although, a true corporate insult to injury, organizations were expected to pay for what they already owned. Now, nearly half of ransomware attacks steal data before encrypting systems, which means that ransomware is no longer just a business continuity or disaster recovery response; it is a full cybersecurity incident response because the attack may very well constitute a data breach if stolen records include protected data.
The New World of Ransomware + Data Theft is a new flavor of ransomware in recent years where CLOP ransomware operators/gang - that the group has targeted approximately 100 companies across the world between December and January. Clop ransomware operators' attack vectors were phishing emails.
The ransomware gang published images of allegedly stolen files on its leak site, including passport scans, accounting documents, and emails.
The bottom line is this: given the evolution of the threat, ignoring the potential for a ransomware event to dislodge the business reputation is an unwise assumption. With stricter privacy laws and greater sophistication of the cybercriminal, an organization must have access to technical, legal, and communication experts to help understand what has happened and the best way to mitigate it going forward. Paying a ransom is one of the many paths that must be evaluated and the subsequent steps that occur when your private data become public anyway.
Please reach us to explore what we can do to uplift the preventive measure against ransomware attacks. #cybersecuritylink #cyberthreat https://www.cybersecuritylink.com.au/
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