Ransomware is malware that attacks and encrypts your business’ most valuable information (denial of service attack) and demands a fee or ransom in order for the information to be released. Ransomware can reach users in many forms, i.e. emails, advertisements, and webpages-just to name a few.  

According to sbnonline “From April 2014 to June 2015, 992 victims had reported more than $18 million in losses to just one form of ransomware — CryptoWall — and even that estimate is on the low end, since many victims simply do not report their attacks, or will simply abandon their files” 

What’s important about this threat? 

The number of attacks on small business’ are growing.  

Have you considered how your employees work? Are they mobile workers? Ransomware can and will attack mobile devices and gain access to your companies information while doing so. Do you have a security plan for your bring your own device (BYOD) employees? 

Back up your data. We can’t say it enough. Back it up. If your businesses data is properly backed up there might be a chance that your security experts can restore what has been attacked. This  can minimize your chances of having to pay the ransom or worse…lose your whole business to criminals. 

The important thing to remember about cyber security is always be prepared for an attack. Monitoring your threat alarms, firewalls, and updating your malware protection will all minimize the impact of an attack but unfortunately there is nothing out there that can completely prevent hackers from attempting to penetrate your network.