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5 Dangers Caused by Ransomware for Businesses of All Sizes


5 Dangers Caused by Ransomware for Businesses of All Sizes

What are the 5 dangers ransomware creates for enterprises and organizations? 

Ransomware remains one of the most potent, versatile, and devastating branches of malware in existence. A favorite of hackers the world over, every business regardless of size should fear what ransomware could do to their IT environment. Moreover, they must work to protect themselves against it.  

But what exactly can ransomware do? What dangers does ransomware pose? We dive into those questions here. 

 

5 Dangers Caused by Ransomware for Businesses

How Does Ransomware Work? 

Ransomware is defined by how it operates rather than how it infiltrates networks (i.e. spear-phishing). A hacker uses any of the means at their disposal to get their ransomware into the business IT environment. The ransomware then encrypts specific files, parts of the network, or the entire environment, preventing access by the victim company. 

As befits the name, the hackers responsible send a message to the victim demanding a ransom payment (often in cryptocurrency but not always) for the decryption code to regain access. Usually, they put the victim on a time limit on the ransom payment; failure to pay within the time limit may result in an increased ransom demand or the exposure of the encrypted data (or both). 

With that established, here’s how ransomware can damage your business. 

Reputational Damage

One of the underrated dangers of ransomware is appearances. Customers naturally shy away from businesses that don’t appear to have their cybersecurity under control and may abandon brands entirely after certain attacks. 

Unfortunately, there is no way to conceal ransomware; by nature, they attract attention since they need someone to notice what’s happening to get them to pay up. Trying to gain customer trust back after having lost it is a huge challenge, which can take a significant investment of time and resources. Worse, depending on how the ransomware attack occurred, your business may face compliance fines, which hurt both financially and reputationally.

Lost Files

At the end of the day, ransomware attacks files and networks. Once the hacker encrypts them, those files become the hacker’s…

Source…

New IoT botnet offers DDoSes of once-unimaginable sizes for $20

  1. New IoT botnet offers DDoSes of once-unimaginable sizes for $ 20  Ars Technica
  2. Hackers behind new botnet also host a GTA: San Andreas server  CNET
  3. The latest IoT botnet displays evidence of a halfway clever botmaster  Boing Boing
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