With the move to work from home over the past 18+ months, cyber security has become an even more important consideration as people remote into their office computers, companies move to cloud-based solutions, and information is readily shared across networks.
One of the largest growing concerns is ransomware attacks. These have increased more than tenfold over the past year. Ransomware is a specific type of malware that holds data hostage in exchange for a ransom. It threatens to publish, block, or corrupt data — or prevent a user from working or accessing their computer unless they meet the attacker’s demands.
This rise is being fuelled, in part, by the continued growth of Ransomware-as-a-Service. Cyber criminals are renting their services or selling their programs to less tech-savvy ones who then use it for these attacks. It has made ransomware attacks available to even the most unsophisticated of hackers. Payment is normally demanded in cryptocurrency as it is difficult to trace.
In South Africa, SOEs are often targets. Transnet and the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development were recent victims. SOEs are seen as soft targets as they normally do not spend as much on cyber security as other similarly sized private businesses do.
According to data protection solutions provider Commvault, on average, it costs 10 times the cost of the ransom payment to restore the data. The firm says 70% of ransomware attacks include a threat to leak exfiltrated data, and firms that have been attacked experience about 21 days of downtime afterwards. Cybersecurity Ventures predicts ransomware will cost $10.5 trillion annually by 2025. That is more than the current combined market caps of Amazon, Microsoft, Google and Facebook.
Common countermeasures to ransomware include antivirus, antimalware, and firewall systems. These are certainly necessary, but they’re not enough to keep you safe. In fact, the majority of victims already had these solutions in place.
Even with sophisticated technical measures in place, the weakest link is always the human element. 94% of all ransomware attacks begin with the initial access being obtained via a phishing email. That means your ransomware strategy should reduce attack risks while also seeking to mitigate the impact of an attack that succeeds. October was cyber security awareness month world-wide. With this year’s theme being “Do Your Part, #BeCyberSmart”, it is a good opportunity to consider these facts as well as staff training in order to protect your data.