YES! If you don't take steps to defend yourself and your business from this type of an attack, it will cost you a lot of money and can do irreparable damage to your business, possibly even forcing you to close your doors.
A few high-profile ransomware cases made the news, such as Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center (paid $17,000) and The University of Calgary (paid $16,000). But, large businesses aren’t the only ones being targeted.
Small-to-Medium Businesses (SMBs) are now in the cross-hairs because they're more likely to quickly pay the ransom since they are often less prepared to recover from an attack than their larger, better-funded brethren.
In fact, criminals are now increasing their ransom demands to what they think targeted businesess can afford based upon their research before-hand. This will cost SMBs thousands of dollars more in extortion payments going forward.
The best defense is a multilayered approach making it difficult for ransomware to gain a foothold, and if it does, giving you the tools to deal with it effectively. So, here are a few things you should do immediately:
Awareness is key. Teach your employees to never click on links or open attachments contained in emails, especially from senders they don't know and to report incidents without fear of consequences.
Make sure EVERY computer has up-to-date antivirus (AV) software. AV can stop many of the known malware strains, but they cannot keep up with over 250,000 new variants coming out each day.
Install a next generation firewall. A next generation firewall is able to block sophisticated attacks at the application, port and protocol levels by integrating enterprise capabilities, intrusion prevention systems and application control.
Install a managed Hybrid-cloud backup solution, for the ultimate failsafe in layered protection. A Hybrid-cloud solution automatically takes snapshots of your data and programs at regular intervals, securely storing them both onsite and in the cloud. If ransomware gets a foothold, your Managed Services Provider can ‘turn back the clock’ to a time before the attack happened, so you NEVER HAVE TO PAY THE RANSOM!
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