MIMECAST
WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT RANSOMWARE ATTACKS (AND HOW TO STOP THEM) By Brian Pinnock, cybersecurity expert at Mimecast
E
ven as the world remains in the grip of a global pandemic that is showing no signs of abating, another threat is vying for the crown of number one risk to the global economy. In scenes reminiscent of action thrillers, high-tech criminal organisations are targeting high-value organisations and critical national infrastructure. Data is being locked away in encrypted formats and criminals are demanding ransoms for millions in exchange for the release of data or, in some cases, the promise to not release sensitive customer and company information such as passwords and ID numbers publicly (in what is known as double extortion attacks). These ransomware attacks are forcing organisations offline, which can lead to major disruption of an
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Municipal Focus
organisation and its supply chains. Downtime means organisations are unable to deliver services which could be catastrophic when it affects government departments and critical national infrastructure. Following a series of highly publicised ransomware attacks on businesses and critical US infrastructure, the US Department of Justice has announced
it is elevating investigations of ransomware attacks to a similar priority level as terrorism. A few months ago, a successful ransomware attack on a US IT management software firm, Kaseya, put more than 1 000 businesses all customers of the firm - at risk. What distinguished the perpetrators of this latest attack from historic
