Aug 01, 2018
What is Ransomware?
Ransomware is a term often tossed around these days, and sometimes incorrectly.
Aside from the monetary damages of paying the ransom, it can halt an entire system and cause some serious downtime. While a business continuity and disaster recovery (BCDR) plan may not necessarily prevent ransomware attacks from occurring, it can prevent them from succeeding.
Ransomware sometimes marks the files for permanent deletion or publication on the internet. The cyber criminals then demand a payment (usually in untraceable cryptocurrency like bitcoin) for the private key required to decrypt and access the files.
To help define ransomware, we brought a few Datto partners in to get their definition.
“Ransomware is a threat to your business and your ability to function. Not having a proper backup/disaster recovery solution in place could be crippling,” Cody Arnold, Backup Engineer, Bizco Technologies.
“Imagine losing all of your data unless you pay a ransom of hundreds or thousands of dollars in a currency you don’t understand. You may pay the ransom and still not get your data back. This is the new kind of kidnapping. Don’t pay the ransom and your data is lost forever. You need an insurance policy to prevent it,” Michael Patrick, Solutions Architect, Mirazon Group.
“Ransomware is currently the most popular, and nefarious, trend in malicious software. It is deployed with the intention of blocking access to your file system, and impeding your ability to do business, by encrypting data until a specified sum of money is paid to those holding it hostage,” Frank Slattery, General Manager, TeamLogic IT.
Learn more about ransomware and how you can avoid a malware attack.