Spoiler Alert: NONE! 

You know how ransomware attacks go, right? Basically, a hacker steals your company data and seals it away from you. You can only get them once you pay them the amount they want. Pretty simple plan for a crime. However, even hackers get to have issues in collecting payments.  

Since most businesses who are victims of ransomware attacks are small to medium enterprises, it is not a surprise that business owners are strapped for cash. Afterall, for businesses like this, there is still a very delicate balance they must do between expenses and income. Hence, when hackers get hold of their company data, they cannot pay the ransom, even if they would want to.  

Hackers modify their payment collection for their ransomware attacks

Yes, just like any good business does. Hackers are now professionalizing how they go about their scams. Currently, they are now allowing their victims certain payment terms in order to collect money. Some even have customer support to assist them when issues with payment arise. Pretty considerate, right!? Insert: sarcasm.  

Ransomware Attacks: Ransomware Payment Center

Ransomware Attacks: Ransomware Payment Center

Ransomware Attack Payment options include: 

  • Fee to delay publishing of the data they downloaded 
  • Fee to remove the data that they stole, hence being unable to make it public 
  • Fee to decrypt data they encrypted in your business system 

The amount may vary depending on the hacker and negotiations with the victims. They may also add features on the website to make the attack look more terrifying and put pressure on the company. This may include a timer, warning signs, view counter and tags.  

Should your business pay ransom to attackers?
Experts say-NO!
 

Cybersecurity experts warn about paying these threat actors. For one, you don’t have any guarantee that they will live up to their end of the bargain. They can continue keeping the data they stole. Similarly, encrypted files may not come back the same when they give you the decryption code. In both cases, they can again use it against you in the future to collect money. 

Second, by paying these criminals who launched ransomware attacks, you are funding their future attacks on other companies, even yours. Similarly, there could be other illegal activities that your payment is funding for, should you pay these hackers. In fact, some government bodies have made paying ransom a criminal offense 

Instead of ransomware attacks payments, spend money on cybersecurity

Instead of pulling money out of your business’ financial assets to pay for ransom, experts recommend investing more in business resiliency instead. That way, the expenditure is predictable and can be scheduled. Plus, the increased reliability of your company, reputation-wise. 

Data back-up 

This ensures that your company data is made safe and backed-up, ready to be retrieved if needed. Hence making sure, you are not at the mercy of criminals should a breach happen.  

Staff education 

This leads to having a knowledgeable team who can recognize suspicious emails and links. In line with this, being knowledgeable makes them your first line of defense against threat actors. 

Cybersecurity software 

Make sure to subscribe to reliable and strong cyber security software. Ensure that they are also up to date and with the latest security patches so they can screen out more threats.  

Network segmentation 

By compartmentalizing your network, this lessens the spread of infection. This is in cases that viruses or bots get into your system.  

Create incident response protocol  

Make sure you have a plan in place to counter attacks when it happens. Similarly, this contains what must be done to continue business operations after containment of the threat. This must be communicated to your staff so they can follow the procedure, if needed. 

You can win against ransomware attacks

Paying ransom to these hackers only makes you an easy target in the future. That is why investing in cybersecurity and business continuity measures makes for better defense and breach response. Similarly, having a good business resilience ensures longevity for your company, regardless of the kind of threat it faces.

We can help you achieve excellent cybersecurity posture. Schedule your consultation with us today and let us create a plan together.

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Ransomware Attacks

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