Five Vital Questions (and our answers) about Cyber-Risk

If you hadn’t heard yet, Ransomware is a very real risk for your business. It isn’t just something that happens to big businesses or companys that tend to be low-tech. We had a client just last week warn us of a pretty sophisticated ransomware threat. Need to know more about this pretty scary topic? Here are five vital questions and our answers about Cyber-Risk.
• What is Ransomware?
Ransomware – when a hacker/thief is able to insert malware into your network that encrypts all of your files. Your files will not open unless you get the encryption key from the hacker by paying them in non-traceable bitcoin.
• Are they hackers sophisticated or just common thieves?
These hackers are often not based in the US, Some reports say that many of them are Chinese Military hackers who are moonlighting to make money on the side. They are very well trained and very capable.
• I’m not a large business, so am I relatively safe?
All businesses of all sizes are at risk. The process of ransomware is largely random. The hackers run code that embeds itself in either spam email or web applications which are attached to Facebook, LinkedIn, or other major web sites. They send out literally millions of probes to every available network they can find. Take a look at this recent example.
• Yes but how do I know this isn’t just hype?
We are aware of two small businesses in Portland that have had recent attacks. One was successful fighting off the hackers, the other was not and ended up paying out several thousand dollars.
• So what do I need to do?
Upward takes this threat very seriously. You need 21st century security and disaster recovery systems – not conventional backup and anti-virus.
Please contact Upward Technology, Portland’s best IT provider for a risk assessment.