One of the main concerns when a business is booming is cyberattacks. Indeed, no company is safe from these cyberattacks, which have become increasingly frequent in recent years. One of the most widely used attacks by cybercriminals today involves software known as “ransomware”. Since early 2021, ransomware attacks have increased by 59%. What is it exactly? That’s what we’re here to answer.
What is Ransomware?
Nearly 52% of French companies have already been victims of a ransomware cyberattack. Ransomware is malicious software sent by cybercriminals, designed to slip through the gaps in a company’s security system. This software aims to steal, encrypt or encode the company’s data, making it difficult to recover and rendering computers unusable. As a result, the criminals demand that the company pay a ransom in exchange for recovering their data via a decryption key designed to decode your data.
Beyond weakening the company’s finances, obtaining this private data can allow attackers to carry out industrial espionage and sometimes put the group’s reputation at risk. The attackers behind these misdeeds generally have significant resources and technical skills. That’s why their ransom demand can amount to tens of thousands of euros, as victim companies are generally only very poorly secured at the IT level.
What are the risks of a cyberattack?
Being attacked creates multiple risks for a company — wondering why? At some point it’s going to lose money. Indeed, whether after paying the ransom or due to the inactivity caused by the attack, the company will be dragged into a vicious circle. A theft of this kind halts all activity and therefore all productivity, which lowers revenue. Beyond losing data, which may also involve customer data, there is no guarantee that this data will be recovered. And that’s why customers lose trust in the company.
In the worst case, a small business without exorbitant revenue can see its own downward spiral lead all the way to closure.
Why shouldn’t you give in to the blackmail?
The pressure exerted by the attackers is generally hard to bear, and the threats can be difficult to withstand, creating a desire to pay the ransom quickly. But is that really the solution? It is often better not to pay this ransom. Why? To begin with, if you pay, it is almost certain that you will not get your data back. Second, 80% of victims were attacked again after paying. After paying this astronomical sum, this loss of money will lead to a drop in productivity, and sometimes all of this can lead to mass layoffs.
One of the most important reasons is that, quite simply, you don’t know who you’re dealing with. It has been shown that many attacks are organized by terrorist groups, and paying the ransom can be seen as funding their criminal activities. The company can then face numerous legal proceedings, which is why the ransom should not be paid.
How and why to best avoid cyberattacks?
Over time, solutions have been created to successfully counter these cyberattacks, such as:
- Get very good antivirus software and update it as soon as possible.
- Update all systems and software.
- Implement a filtering policy on all workstations, to prevent browsing on high-risk websites.
- Back up your data:
Regularly back up all of your computer data across different platforms. Be careful, however, not to save it just anywhere — some cybercriminals are very skilled at finding vulnerable systems. So choose a trustworthy data backup platform.
If you haven’t managed to fend off an attack and a ransom is being demanded from you, don’t panic, we’re here to help. At Chronodisk, our data recovery experts are now well accustomed to dealing with ransomware attacks. In most cases, the data is quickly recovered and returned to its owners. The ransom becomes unnecessary… No need to pay.