You don’t have to be targeted to be “ransomwared”

You don’t have to be a target for ransomware attack to be affected. Another case of a microbusiness (2 computers, one NAS network) being hacked ended up on our desks this week. It happened when an infected piece of software was downloaded and encrypted all client’s files on their system, NAS, Dropbox… Of course, this happened in the least good time (if there ever is a good time for something like that to occur), late in the day, when most companies are shutting down for the day. Fortunately, we were there to help and work in he evening to help a micro business owner to resume his operations as soon as possible early in the morning. Thank goodness for backup. I cannot say enough, and have been saying this for a long time, how important backup is. Without it there is no way to recover data in some cases. In this instance there was some data loss, but it could have been so much worse. Mind you, a good managed antivirus (I use this term for convenience only because modern products detect far more than just viruses) would, most likely, stop a user from downloading an infected file to begin with, and prevented all the trouble (time loss, data loss, cost of cyber-attack response and a huge amount of stress).

The ransom note shows up when it is already too late to do anything about it, and everything that can be affected already is. In most cases you only have two solutions: pay the ransom or restore all your data (if you had it backed up properly) and/or rebuild your whole network. Both can be quite expensive to deal with. That is why we prefer to advocate prevention rather than recovery. It is so much more cost effective to eliminate most problems before they occur. Don’t wait until you get “ransomwared”. Be proactive and contact a good IT provider to upgrade your cyber security and train yourself and your employees in safe onlice practices. A good place to start is to take a look at our Tech News on regular bases. You are never too small for a cyber-attack, whether it is a targeted one or just a crime of opportunity…

To learn more about how to tighten your company’s security (network security, password management, proper backup solutions, deployment of other security controls such as: antivirus, end point protection etc.) or to schedule an online security training session do not hesitate to contact us. Remember, you deserve to receive a proper, professional IT care no matter how small your business is!

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