You’re safe from ransomware, right? NO! The common misconception with ransomware is that all you need to do is protect your accounts in order to be safe. Unfortunately, in this day and age that is not the case. You can do everything “right” and still fall victim. It is not a matter of IF but WHEN.
No size of business or type of business is safe from a ransomware attack. Don’t think that because you are small that hackers are not interested in you. Smaller companies are easy targets for these hackers because the IT infrastructure of smaller companies is typically not as locked down as larger companies. All hackers are after is money, they do not care what size company you have or what you sell.
In this post, I will explain what ransomware is, how you can get ransomware, and why this should concern your company.
What is Ransomware?
Ransomware is as scary as it sounds. A bad actor gets ahold of your data, locks it up so you can’t get to it, and then demands money in exchange for your data back. The ransomware might have been in your environment for days or possibly months waiting for the best opportunity to attack.
How Ransomware Attacks get into your environment.
Ransomware can get on your network in a number of ways. For example, John Smith gets an email from “Steelers.com” claiming that he won a free game to the latest Steelers game. “Act quickly in order to lock this game in!”, says the email. Little did John Smith know: the email wasn’t actually from “Steelers.com” but actually a hacker trying to install malware onto his computer. That is all it takes for ransomware to infect an entire organization. It is as simple as clicking on the wrong link. Phishing is a common attack that many hackers use successfully.
There are other ways that you can introduce ransomware into an environment. You can accidently download ransomware from the internet by clicking on malicious links. These malicious links can be found within emails, social media posts and chats, and even from ads.
Fake websites are another way that ransomware can get introduced into your environment. You might think that it would be easy to tell if you are actually on Facebook or not, however hackers have gotten increasingly more clever with their tricks. Nowadays, you can go to a website that looks EXACTLY like Facebook. You will log in and it’ll even redirect you to the real Facebook after you have entered in your credentials.
Fake software is another way to get ransomware into your environment. Have you ever been surfing the internet and see an ad for an expensive software application, but the price is free in the ad? If it is too good to be true, it probably is. There is a good possibility that the software application is actually malware trying to steal your information or could possibly be ransomware. Because of this, you should only download software from sites you trust.
Have you heard of the MGM ransomware attack? This attack used the oldest trick in the book: social engineering. The hacker simply called up MGM’s help desk pretending to be locked out of “their” account and provided basic information to “prove” they were who they said they were. They were given access to the account and the rest was history. No hacking involved. This might seem like an extreme case, but people try this tactic all the time. For example, you might get a strange text in the middle of the night from your “CEO” stating that they are locked out of their account, and you need to reset it immediately. This “CEO” might make it sound like your job is on the line. The hacker will use pressure to get you to act fast. They do not want you to have time to think.
There are so many ways that ransomware can be deployed to an environment. Assume that everyone in your environment would fall for these tactics. Chances are, there are at least one person who will, and it only takes one person to let ransomware in. Each and every day, there are new ways to infect environments. I covered some of the most widely used ways but there are so many more ways out there.
Why this should concern you.
Imagine a day where you come into work, every computer and server are encrypted and there is a note demanding half a million dollars to unencrypt everything. If you don’t comply, they will hold you hostage or even delete everything after a set period of time. Can your business survive if you have a half million dollars less in your bank account?
Cyber criminals are very smart. After they find their victim, they do their research to see how much money they can get out of your company. Always assume that if you get hit by ransomware, it will be enough to bring down your company or very close to it. Walking in and having every server and computer encrypted is a real scenario that has happened and can happen to ANY sized business. Increasingly, many companies are going out of business due to these ransomware attacks. Don’t let ransomware bring down your business.
Thank you!
Thank you for reading my quick post on ransomware, please leave a comment with any suggestions for future posts or questions that you have. In my next post, I will explain some ways to protect yourself and how to recover when you fall victim to a ransomware attack.
– Brett