5 Ways Ransomware infects Small Businesses
Most large enterprises have already experienced one or more ransomware attack, and subsequently increased their security. Lately perpetrators are casting their net more widely, including small businesses and affluent individuals / families. In addition, any ‘want to be hacker’ can subscribe on the dark web to ‘Ransomware-as-a-Service’, dramatically increasing the amount of extortion scams reported by security experts. Threat actors now exfiltrate data and threaten to leak it on social and public media sites. Backup and Recovery techniques most companies implement are only part of the solution.
Understand the attack surface helps one understand the exposure we have in today’s digital world:
Phishing, Impersonation & Social Engineering Breaches
Malvertising & Breaching the Internet Browser
Exploit Software Kits deliver customized Malware
Infected Flies and Application Downloads
Messaging Applications & Add-ins as Infection Vectors
Conclusion:
Ransomware continues to change, but ‘Ransomware-as-a-Service’ has grown to be most widely favored now. Ransomware authors sell custom-build kits to interested cyber-criminals agreeing to a percentage of the profit. The criminal buyer of the service finds the victims and delivery methods of the custom-build ransomware. This innovative cooperation between creators and executors results in increasing volume and focus of the attacks.
These recent trends of extortion of leaked data demand increased preventative measures to secure devices, networks, identities, and applications. The latest IT security sector developments offer any size company, or family organization, affordable services to counteract these threats and greatly reduce the risk exposure. Note that business insurance carriers increasingly demand minimum to best practice security implementation to validate their coverage.