To pay or not to pay, that is the question. Many businesses are faced with a difficult decision when it comes to the payment of ransomware, and, unfortunately, many businesses will have to face this question at some point or another. A recent study found that ransomware attacks are the greatest threat to businesses right now because they are on the rise and their downside to the business can be so great.
Ransomware attacks are one of the most common forms of cyber security breach. Why is this? Because if the business isn’t prepared for such an attack, the criminals will be rewarded regardless of whether or not the ransom is paid. The criminals will be compensated either through the payment of the ransom or, if the business refuses to pay, the criminals will be able to sell the business’s valuable corporate and customer data on the deep web. And unfortunately, there are many indicators that “bad actors” will do both.
There is a tendency for business owners to comply to the attackers’ demands by paying the ransom. Why isn’t this a good idea? It’s likely that if you our your cyber insurance carrier choose to pay the ransomware in order to get your locked/stolen files back, then the hackers will know that your business is one that is willing to pay. The criminals will be back to pull their same ploy again.
Instead, what should be done is to be well-prepared prior to any event happening. All files should be backed up in multiple places regularly. Schedule your IT processes to back up all files to an external hard drive which should then be kept in a locked place. In addition, utilize cloud-based programs for another form of a backup. Having backups of all the data, programs, and files in multiple places will render the ransomware attack less effective because you won’t be put in a position where you need to decide whether to pay the ransomware to get your files back. You will have already have those files available through a back-up and restore process.
Ransomware is especially damaging to all businesses because no matter what the business owner chooses to do, there is a price to pay if you didn’t prepare for the possibility of such an attack. Choose to prepare now so that you don’t have to choose whether or not to pay.
LibertyID is the leader in identity theft restoration, having restored the identities of tens of thousands of individuals without fail. If you retain personal information on your customers, now is the time to get data breach planning and a response program in place with our LibertyID for Small Business data breach preparation program. With LibertyID Enterprise you can now add value to existing products, services, or relationships by covering your customers, employees, or members with LibertyID’s fully managed identity theft restoration service—at a fraction of our retail price—with no enrollment and no file sharing. We have no direct communication with your group members–until they need us.
Call us now for a no obligation proposal at 844-411-LIBERTY (844-411-5423).