Ransomware is a dangerous consequence of falling for a phishing attempt. Ransomware is a software that locks down data by encrypting it, and the fraudster won’t unlock your data via decryption until you pay the ransomware.
What makes ransomware attacks so costly?
- Payments: The ransom payments can get to be expensive, depending on what your company is worth.
- Recovery Time: The time that your business is down and the time it takes to recover can be costly. When you think of ransomware expenses, usually you only think of the money you must pay, but there’s more. While your business is down, you are losing money and the recovery time can take days and days to get fully back.
- Lawsuits: Lawsuits often occur when your customers’ financial and personal data is compromised.
Here are some tips to protect your business from ransomware:
- Implement user training and phishing exercises to raise awareness about the risks of suspicious links and attachments.
- Make sure your business's antivirus software is up to date and running. It’ll help stop ransomware before it affects your business.
- If you use Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP), secure and monitor it.
- Make an offline backup of your business’s data.
Don’t let cybercriminals bring down the business you put your heart and soul into. Even if you’re short on time, money, or resources, there are still many ways to effectively secure your business. The most important thing is to just get started.
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