Quick Intelligence Blog

Protecting yourself and your data online can seem like a daunting task. The difficulty is tied to several factors, such as, how many data “assets” do you have that need to be protected, how many employees, how many locations, and how many Internet connections you may have. Generally speaking, the more complex your environment is, the more difficult protecting yourself can be. Add to that the types of data your organization is trying to protect, and how high profile of an organization you may be, can also play a role in the difficulty of protecting yourself.

If you are thinking that your business is too small to be targeted by cyber criminals, think again. Many hackers think of small businesses as “low hanging fruit,” or as easy targets, since they don’t have big cyber security budgets to prevent an attack. The statistics also prove this to be true.

When it comes to running your business, you know that you need to be prepared. Just like we all know what to do in the event of a fire because we practice our escape plan, it is important for your business to plan and prepare for a ransomware attack.

A survey by data management company, Cohesity, found that 40% of American consumers don’t want businesses to pay ransomware demands to cyber criminals. The study elicited responses from more than 1,000 U.S. consumers ages 18 and older. Moreover, 23% of those surveyed said they'd stop doing business with a company that paid a ransom. Further 48% would consider not doing business with a company that paid a ransom.

Whether you run a small business or a large business, you know that a ransomware attack can be devastating. Did you know that these 3 common misconceptions could give you a false sense of cyber security? Listed below are 3 of these misconceptions and what you can do to address them, and in turn, be more cyber secure.

You’ve seen some of the headlines regarding big cyber security breaches. Colonial Pipeline paid a huge ransom to get their data back and get the gas flowing again. JBS Meat also suffered an attack that shut down production for days.

One of the biggest stories of 2021 has been the big increase in ransomware attacks. While not a new phenomenon, it seems that attacks are happening more frequently, with Barracuda researchers on reporting that they’ve identified and analyzed 121 ransomware incidents so far in 2021, a 64 percent increase in attacks. The ransom demands also keep getting bigger, with Palo Alto Networks’ Unit 42 reporting an 82% increase in the amount of the average ransom.

A Sophos study found that 44% of retail organisations were hit by a ransomware attack in 2020, and more than half of those affected (54%) said cyber criminals had succeeded in encrypting their data.

Ransomware isn’t a new threat to business. It has been around for a long while, but lately it seems we are bombarded with news stories about ransomware. Two recent ones of note have been the cyber attacks on Colonial Pipeline and JBS Meats. In both cases they agreed to pay the ransom. So, why is this a problem?