With so many high profile attacks, is the current ransomware strategy not working?
Companies are entrusted with the private, personal, and sensitive information of their clients. When there is a ransomware breach, clients’ data is encrypted and stolen. 
If the ransom demanded is not paid, three things typically happen:
1. The business loses access to their data. To remedy this, they need to restore the data from IT backups, leading to loss of revenue over the weeks/months(?) it would take. But that’s only as long as their IT backup is not infected by ransomware… Sometimes cyber criminals delay their attack after they have hacked into a company, so their ransomware code gets included in the regular daily/weekly backup.
2. To punish the company for non-payment, the stolen client data gets published on the dark web for other criminals to take an advantage of. A recent series of attacks on schools saw their data being shared including children’s SEN information, passport scans and details of teachers’ pay contracts. Read more here.
3. ICO may need to be notified of the breach and a fine can be issued. Tuckers Solicitors, one of the UK’s leading criminal law firms, have been hit with a £98,000 fine after hackers were able to access current court cases information and leak them on the web. Read more here.
Your insurance company may cover cybercrime and pay the ransom for you. We are aware of cases where this has happened. I can only imagine how high the following years’ insurance premiums going to be. Also, the UK government has made it illegal to pay ransom to some ransomware criminals. Read more here.
“We are protected from ransomware by our robust antivirus and EDR defences”, you say? Well, it may be true you are protecting your devices as much as possible, but cybercriminals are becoming more and more devious and they are finding ways to get in.
Many large corporations spend millions on cybersecurity and still get hacked. Recent high profile attacks include BBC, Boots, BA Capita, Mazars and Royal Mail.
Experts agree that it is no longer a question of if, but when you get targeted. A business needs to take every precaution they can in building strong perimeter and end point defences. However they also need to plan for when there is a breach and how to manage it.
Find out more about Bullwall RansomCare which will stop an active ransomware attack.
Contact Martyn on 01794 526088 or email m.pegram@aomltd.co.uk