On May 7th, the Colonial Pipeline experienced a devastating cyber attack that forced its organization to close operations and freeze its IT systems to contain the virus. Ransom demands today can be exorbitant and usually involve negotiations to lower the price. Colonial Pipeline still had to pay around 5 million dollars in a ransomware blackmail payment. The payment was made to DarkSide, a Ransomware as a Service.
Recently, federal agencies have urged against paying ransomware, since it encourages more of the same activity and often the victim cannot redeem all lost files. A recent article in Forbes claims that 92% who pay, do not get all of their data back. According to zdnet.com, the cost of ransomware recovery has doubled in the last year.
This is a good time to review safety protocol for ensuring that your organization is as protected as it can be from ransomware attacks.
Read our previous post on tips for preventing a malware or ransomware attack.
