Ransomware Attacks in the News

In recent news, Pitney Bowes and Groupe M6 experienced ransomware attacks which limited customer access to company services and led to the encryption of information on private networks and systems belonging to the companies. Furthermore, email servers and phone lines also went down due to the attacks, and while no customer data was lost or stolen, shows how much of a threat these ransomware attacks can pose on the privacy of companies and their customers.

Ransomware attacks, while hard to detect and fight off, are able to be defeated with time and effort. However, if it takes too much time to defeat said attacks, valuable data could be breached or stolen and many will be put at risk. If the risk is too much, companies forego hopes of fighting off the attacks themselves and end up paying high extortion fees to minimize damage. However what happens when attackers strike again? Will the companies be prepared to fend it off the next time, or will be they be seen as an easy target because they gave in?

One thing is for sure; just as we continue to make strides in the cyber security industry, criminals continue to get more and more advanced with their own cyber attack tactics.