Are you still unmoved about the dangers of ransomware?

Here’s something to consider:

As a U.S. business owner, you are operating in the most dangerous country in the world for ransomware – the pesky form of malware which, upon infecting a device, can encrypt its files or lock it altogether until a large payment is made.

According to a recent report from Malwarebytes, about one quarter of all ransomware attacks in the world are now being aimed at U.S. targets. As explained in eWeek, Malwarebytes analyzed data between June 1 and October 15. In doing so, the company discovered hundreds of thousands of ransomware attacks. And more than 25 percent were aimed at the U.S.

How do other countries compare? Germany was next on the list at 9 percent, followed by France, at 4 percent.

“Throughout the whole year, ransomware has been the dominant problem,” stated Malwarebytes Director of Malware Intelligence Adam Kujawa. “It has just kept growing.”

This assessment is spot on. As we explained in a post from earlier this year, April saw a record amount of ransomware attacks. And since then, attacks have been growing exponentially. In fact, ransomware increased threefold this year.  

To give you a better sense of what we’re dealing with, back in September cybersecurity firm Kapsersky Labs discovered one ransomware attack against businesses occurs every 40 seconds. For consumers, ransomware attacks occur every 10 seconds. And during the 3Q16, there were 32,091 variations of ransomware detected by Kaspersky Labs. This is compared to just 2,900 discovered during 1Q16.

This year, at least 62 new “families” of ransomware have appeared on the market.

Here at Apex Technology Services, we tell our customers that you don’t have to go overboard to stay safe from ransomware. The best remedy is a mix of education, awareness and vigilance.  

In other words, by simply knowing about ransomware and taking active measures to mitigate the threat, you are in all likelihood doing more than the business next to you. Hackers look for the weak points of entry and may bypass your business if they are unsuccessful at first.

We strongly recommend signing up for our cybersecurity training program, which will educate your employees about what ransomware is, where it tends to hide online and how to avoid it. Your employees will learn basic, everyday cyber protection strategies that they can use to help prevent data leaks and cyberattacks from occurring.

If you do nothing, rest assured that ransomware will eventually find your organization. You will come in to work one morning and one of your colleagues will be unable to access his or her laptop or computer. And then you will be faced with a tough question:

Pay a massive ransom, or risk losing your data forever?

We can help you avoid this problem.

A new breed of hacktrepeneurs has awoken and they have little to fear and everything to gain by infecting as many companies as possible and extorting money from them. Apex Technology Services stands ready to protect your company regardless of whether it’s located in New York City; White Plains, New York; Connecticut; Australia; Europe; or anywhere else. Our full suite of cybersecurity and IT support services is at your disposal, enabling you to spend less time worrying about and more time growing your business.

In addition, our new Cybersecurity Compliance Certification for law firms will help keep your legal practice from becoming the next Panama Papers victim. This baseline cybersecurity audit for the legal industry should be considered seriously by all law firms.