Entrepreneurs always follow the money and it seems this applies to the criminal world as well.
Anyone who lacks the needed skills to be a cyber criminal can simply buy a service that gets them entry into the game of Ransomware. No skills required.
Crazy right?
Turns out that today’s modern day Bonnie & Clyde are professional hackers trying to capitalize by offering a service.
The amount of knowledge needed to create the malicious code for ransomware is quite extensive. Not something the average person can do. So these professionals have created Ransonsware as a Service (RaaS) that they can sell on the cheap or give it away in return for a percentage of any money collected.
Now anyone with criminal intent and the ability to search the dark web marketplace has the ability to become a ransomware thief. I guess these hackers were paying attention to John D. Rockefeller who said. “I would rather earn 1% off a 100 people’s efforts than 100% off of my my own efforts”.
Thanks to RaaS these professional Ransomware hackers have an army of criminals trying to lock your data and hold your business up for ransom.
No wonder Ransomware attacks are on the rise and grew from 4 million attacks in 2015 to 638 Million in 2016.
Ransomware is Big Business!
If you are still thinking your small business is too small to hack, you might want to reconsider. With RaaS, these thieves can release thousands of new attacks and release new versions of malware at a push of a button.
In the last 12 months alone, $301 Million Dollars have been paid by small businesses, just like yours to Ransomware Thieves.
These criminals aren’t trying to get credit card or personal information anymore. That takes too long to get paid. Instead they are trying to encrypt your data so that they can lock you out of your own business and look to get paid within 24 hours to unlock your data.
Once they gain access to your systems the ransom they demand is usually in the form of Bitcoin. Ransoms paid in bitcoins come with a lower risk of the criminal being caught because of the way Bitcoin works.
Could that be why bitcoin’s price has been rising through the roof?
I digress.
It’s not just the ransom that presents a problem for business owners. Ransomware can shut down your business until the ransom is paid or until you can restore your data. Of the 35% of small businesses that paid the ransom, 15% of those never recovered their data.
Protecting your business from Ransomware is more important than ever.
It takes a multi-layered approach to protect against the constant attacks being attempted on your business. This includes many technical and tactical skills as well as the right configuration of your hardware and software.
Most small business owners are realizing more and more that having someone who is well versed in cyber security is a necessity.
The good news, if any, is that there are many firms dedicated to helping the small business owner solve the security issue without breaking the bank.
Restech provides Total Security Solutions for Law Firms, CPA’s, Financial Services, Credit Unions, Title Companies, Healthcare providers and other small to midsized business. Get enterprise level protection right sized for your small business.
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