Tag Archives: ransomware

With ransomware attacks increasing, cyber insurance now seen as a necessity, not a luxury (publication)

Many thanks to Security Magazine for publishing my recent article With ransomware attacks increasing, cyber insurance now seen as a necessity, not a luxury In reality, there is no “secure” — even when the best security measures are taken. When hackers want to get in and disrupt a business, they will. Companies must be resilient, …

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***URGENT*** MEMO TO: “The IT Guy” / MSP After Ransomware Attack

Here’s a pro tip for “The IT Guy” or MSP whose customer has just been hit with ransomware, when it was their responsibility to protect against it: No matter how strongly you may feel about this issue, when your client is contemplating possibly paying the ransom to get their network recovered (and, save themselves from …

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Think Your Company is Too Pretty To Be Hit With A Ransomware Attack? Think Again.

Ask beauty-brand Avon, which was hit with a ransomware attack on June 8 that shut down some of its operations for over a week: A source tracking the incident has told ZDNet today that the Avon incident is a ransomware attack carried out by the DopplePaymer gang. Avon recovering after mysterious cyber-security incident

Think your company’s IT is too sophisticated to be hit with a ransomware attack? Think again.

A lot of business executives — and far too many IT professionals — think that their company’s IT systems are too sophisticated and well-maintained for their company to have a successful ransomware attack against it. They think their company is doing it all right and this is only the kind of stuff that happens to …

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Ransomware is the single greatest risk your company faces – here’s why

You read that correctly: ransomware is the single greatest risk to your company. Even in times of the COVID-19 global pandemic, ransomware is still the one risk where, tonight, the company CEO can lay her head down on her pillow with the company doing fine, profits up and operations running smoothly, and then wake up …

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Is ransomware the coronavirus of the cyber world?

The coronavirus is an epidemic in the world today. Ransomware is an epidemic in the cyber world today. We are told that, if we start using better personal hygiene — like washing our hands — we can help minimize the risk of the nasty coronavirus. If nothing else positive comes from this epidemic, hopefully, the …

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Healthcare Providers – Are You Prepared for Hackers to Tell Your Patients About Your Ransomware and Data Breach?

If you are a healthcare provider, you need to prepare yourself now for the new reality that, when hackers get into your network, they will contact your patients to put pressure on you to pay their ransom demands — usually after they have encrypted your network. Here is an example from a recent case that …

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Ransomware + Publicize Victim Companies + Expose Stolen Data = Bad Cyber Extortion Trifecta

Cybercriminals are using a bad cyber extortion trifecta of (1) using ransomware to encrypt victim companies’ data, (2) publicizing the names of those companies that don’t pay up, and (3) then exposing the data they stole from the companies. This is bad stuff and companies had better be ready to protect themselves. Read more: Ransomware …

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Was the ransomware attack on 20+ Texas local governments an attack on a single service provider? [UPDATE: YES!]

The Texas local governments attack seems to me to be more akin to the trend we have been seeing in 2019 with attackers targeting one MSP and then using that access and the MSP’s tools to attack / encrypt the MSP’s individual clients. If I’m not mistaken (and, I could be), the Texas DIR often …

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***URGENT*** MEMO TO: “THE IT GUY” RE: #RANSOMWARE / WIPING DATA

***URGENT MEMORANDUM*** TO: “The IT Guy” FROM: Your clients’ Incident Response Coach SUBJECT: Your clients affected by ransomware STOP OVERWRITING / WIPING / DELETING OR OTHERWISE DESTROYING YOUR CLIENTS’ DATA WHEN THEY ARE AFFECTED BY RANSOMWARE!!! PLEASE!!! PRETTY PLEASE!!! PRETTY PLEASE WITH SUGAR ON TOP!!! JUST STOP IT!!! Seriously, everyone understands that ransomware is scary …

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