CISO Offers Advice on How to Protect Your Business from Ransomware Attack
Continued cyber threats and the frequency we hear about ransomware attacks on the news is alarming. According to experts, cybercrime is a national security level threat and different types of cyber-attacks have reached a record high recently.
Sadly, yesterday was not an exception. ABC 7 Eyewitness News Episode on Wednesday, May 12th featured the city of Gary, Indiana, that recently became the target of a ransomware attack. The News piece covered the officials’ comments about the ongoing investigation and the update on how the city is recovering from the attack.
Phil Burnett, CISO of High Wire Networks, was asked to offer his expert opinion on steps agencies and businesses can take to prevent themselves from a ransomware attack.
“If you take good care of your passwords and use multi-factor authentication and biometrics, those kinds of things and make sure you control those tightly, especially those with administrative rights, then you can knock off more than 60% of the vectors that the bad guys use,” said Phil Burnett, Security Operations EVP and CISO of High Wire Networks.
What is a ransomware attack?
Ransomware is a type of malicious software (malware) that threatens to publish or blocks access to data or a computer system, usually by encrypting it, until the victim pays a ransom fee to the attacker. In many cases, the ransom demand comes with a deadline. If the victim doesn’t pay in time, the data is gone forever. The victims of ransomware attacks can be anyone: people, businesses, governments and the entire cities.
High Wire Networks Dimistifying Cybersecurity
If you are looking for more information on cybercrime and tools and practices to protect yourself and your organization from ongoing cyber threats check out our latest episodes of Cybersecurity Simplified Podcast. Cybersecurity Simplified aims to make cybersecurity understandable to business people and partners who are not security experts. The Podcast covers a range of topics from ransomware attacks and responding to cyber threats to business challenges of managing your cybersecurity.
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