Cybersecurity & Your Business: The Rise of Ransomware

Globally, cyberattacks are increasing daily. Hackers target vulnerable organizations and individuals with the primary goal of stealing your personal and company data for financial gain, wreaking havoc on your business’s reputation, and causing legal issues. Hackers commit a range of severe computer crimes, including identity theft and ransomware extortion of your business and personal data.

My name is Mack Jackson Jr., and I am a cybersecurity consultant and a research professor on cybercrimes. My company provides programs and services to protect your business from the threats of cyberattacks.

According to law enforcement authorities, cybercrime is the most widely reported crime in the United States. However, there are practical solutions for businesses to safeguard their digital assets from hackers. Collaboration with law enforcement and the corporate community on cybersecurity awareness and mitigation initiatives is one strategy to combat cyberattacks.

Locally and nationally, the US Federal Government and foreign law enforcement authorities are prosecuting and fining an increasing number of cybercriminals. On the other hand, cybercriminals undertake new attacks on the country daily, jeopardizing our worldwide economy and financial well-being. The cyber war has already begun. We can help law enforcement protect our business community by taking action. However, the US is not sitting back and expecting to be assaulted by hackers. Our government and its allies are retaliating against cyber criminals through sophisticated counter-terrorist operations.

According to law enforcement organizations, the DarkSide gang has recently made headlines for its attack on Colonial Pipeline, which sparked a political firestorm in the United States and a rush on gas stations in towns along the East Coast. Additionally, these illegal ransomware attacks have targeted commercial sectors such as banks, hospitals, credit unions, and our nation’s water supply infrastructure.

How prevalent is ransomware?

According to Microsoft, the attack wave that affected SolarWinds targeted approximately 3,000 email accounts at more than 150 different organizations, including US government agencies and hundreds of private sector organizations. SolarWinds is an information technology company that provides thousands of companies and government agencies with its software products. In earlier 2021, SolarWinds data centers reported an attack by alleged nation-states such as Russia, China, and North Korea.

According to ZDNet, the cybercriminals made waves in 2020 for attacking the IT systems of small governments across the United States like Jackson County, Georgia, Riviera Beach, Florida, and LaPorte County, Indiana. All three local governments paid the ransoms, which ranged from $130,000 to nearly $600,000.

According to the IT employees, US hospitals have been hit with ransomware attacks, causing internal systems to reboot with a ransom extortion note on the screen. These hospitals from North Carolina, Arizona, Florida, Texas, and California.

The ransomware criminal organizations have set up organized customer service departments where victims can call to negotiate ransom amounts. Most of the payments are provided by some form of cryptocurrency such as bitcoin. There have been stories of charity organizations trying to deal with cybercriminals to obtain their stolen and encrypted data assets.

Attacks on medical facilities increased by 91% in 2020 compared to the previous year. In most cases (66 percent), attackers used social engineering and hacking tactics (21 percent ). The malware was used in 68 percent of these assaults. Furthermore, ransomware was used in 81% of malware-related attacks against healthcare organizations.

Good News Story

According to the most recent CNN story, US authorities have discovered millions of dollars in cryptocurrencies they allege were paid in ransom to hackers whose strike last month forced a critical East Coast pipeline suspension.

The declaration corroborates CNN’s prior reports on the FBI-led operation, which was conducted with the assistance of Colonial Pipeline, the company that was the target of the ransomware assault.

The Justice Department stated that it recovered roughly $2.3 million in Bitcoins sent to members of the criminal hacking organization DarkSide. For more than a year, the FBI has been investigating DarkSide, which is said to exchange malware kits with other criminal hackers.

The ransom recovery, which is the first seizure by the DOJ’s newly formed digital extortion squad, is a rare victory for a firm that has suffered a crippling cyberattack in the expanding criminal business of ransomware.

Colonial Pipeline Co. CEO, Joseph Blount, told The Wall Street Journal in a recent interview that the business paid the $4.4 million ransom demand because authorities were unaware of the scope of the cyber penetration and the time required to restore operations. Blount also stated that this was the hardest decision he ever has made regarding his company.

What can you do in your business?

• Always Maintain Security Updates and Patches
• Consistently Monitor for Phishing Threats
• Use strong passwords and multi-factor authentication
• Use a VPN and Anti-virus software on smart devices, phones, and laptops, tablets
• Create a backup policy that includes a process to restore data

This article originally appeared in the Summer 2021 issue of CHOICES Magazine

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Mack Jackson Jr. can be reached at Vanderson Cyper Group:
http://www.mjcc.com
http://www.mackjacksonjr.com
702-868-0808

Vanderson Cyber Group provides the most effective protection tactics against cyberattacks, mitigation against ransomware, employee education, training, and collaboration with industry partner experts.

Vanderson Cyber Group is a consulting organization that offers instructional presentations, workshops, and seminars on cybercrime prevention. Vanderson Cyber Group specializes in cybersecurity policy development, training, and compliance.

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