Ransomware: Facts, Threats, and Countermeasures

In the era of the Internet, where everyone is professionally or personally highly involved with technology, several cons come with that. Internet criminals commit more cyberattacks such as malware, phishing (DDoS), SQL Injection, pharming, ransomware attacks, and many more, which affect people and businesses from all over the world. 

Ransomware has become the latest threat on a global scale, and this issue needs to be addressed. In March 2023, The White House said a significant threat to these cyberattacks while talking about its National Cybersecurity Strategy and how the software companies are not able to develop secure software or called out many countries for reckless behaviour.

Ransomware Attacks: What you Need to Know

Ransomware is a software malware program through which criminals can hack all-important digital data like files, documents, and financial records. In some cases, you may not be able to operate your system. In return, they ask for ransom in the form of Bitcoin. Also threatens victims of losing all their important data or stealing their data, which creates a stressful situation around them. 

These cybercriminals mostly target large industries for ransomware attacks because they impact essential services and disturb people’s everyday lives. Moreover, big industries are more conscious about their data, which can lead to a huge mess if leaked.

Ransomware facts and stats

According to ETCIO.com, these attacks are very high, especially in the US. Furthermore, Internet security firm Malwarebytes showed all the statistics from July 2022 to June 2023, where they found 1,900 ransomware attack cases, of which 43% are only from the US. Other countries like Germany, the UK, and France also saw an increase in ransomware attacks, but not more than the US.

• In 2023, the percentage of companies trapped by these attacks was about a 27% increase, and 8% of them gave them ransom.
• About 43% of the organizations are not up to the mark in the compliance audit 2023, and the possibility of a data breach in those companies is ten times higher.
• 2023 is the second repeated year where human error has been found to be the primary reason for data breaches.

Apart from the increased number of malware attacks like phishing and ransomware, most organizations have no plans to deal with them, and this is where we lack. Government institutions and properties are the main targets for these cyber criminals.

Impact of Ransomware attacks

By this time you must understand that ransomware is a threat to businesses and individuals. Let’s discuss these threats-

1. Fear of losing the data- The foremost fear of these attacks is a data breach, which can cause many severe problems and lead the company to risks.
2. Financial issues- Criminals ask for a high amount. In addition, the damage they cause by the attacks is more costly than the ransom money.
3. Disturb the whole working process- Ransomware attacks affect the functioning of companies, and if this attack is carried out on government authorities, it will affect the entire country.
4. Mental health- This has a negative impact on the victim. They struggle with anxiety and stress caused by the fear of their data being lost and stolen.

Things you have to keep in mind to prevent Ransomware-

• Do not open spam emails
• Don’t click any random links or notifications
• Do a safe search on the web
• Take all the steps if you find something suspicious

Ransomware Countermeasures

Look for these solutions that you can apply to defend yourself and your company from ransomware attacks-

Protection against spam emails

We receive countless emails in just one day and do not know which one is spam because you can’t open every email, so having a system that protects you against this is important and gives you the maximum protection.

Well-informed professionals

Most mistakes are made by humans because of a lack of knowledge. They will ignore or not pay too much attention to the emails, messages, and notifications they receive and click on them, which creates major problems. So, it’s important to train individuals about cyberattacks to make sure everyone will make the correct choices.

A well-planned strategy

When ransomware attacks happen on someone or an organization, they should have a proper plan or strategy to deal with this problem. A plan will help to take immediate action and avoid bigger problems.

Strong Backup

Store all your important files and documents on an external hard drive to easily restore your data without worry. There are a lot of other countermeasures you can take to protect yourself from ransomware attacks like creating strong passwords, Regular software updates, and many more. 

In the end, we can’t stop these internet threats properly, at least not, yet but as we discussed, we can protect ourselves by taking the right steps. Moreover, we have to be more conscious when we open any email, message, notification, etc., because there are many cases where people click on attachments without being aware and make themselves victims.