The Threat of a Ransomware Attack is Real

When you suffer a ransomware attack you have basically lost control of your entire company. Items such as files, emails, payroll systems, and sensitive client information is now in the hands of a third party whose only goal is to hold you to ransom and make as much money as possible as quickly as possible.

Even if you pay the ransom, however extortionate, the attackers may just delete your critical information and sell your client & business data to the highest bidder!

In the video below, Martin Kelterborn runs an office supply company and describes his ransomware attack. Martin decided to not pay the 45 Bitcoins (Roughly £780,000 at todays value) the hackers were demanding but it ended up costing him a lot more to essentially rebuild his network.

Watch the video of Martin's experience here: https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-56933733

Ransomware is in full swing, already in 2022, there have been 236.1 million ransomware attacks worldwide. The Verizon Data Breach Investigation Report this year stated that ransomware attacks have increased by 13% in the past 12 months.

The rapid increase of ransomware attacks is now of great concern to the UK government. In May of this year a report published by UK Finance stated;

"Ransomware represents one of the most significant and growing international cyber threats, with serious economic, security and public safety consequences."

Ransomware is a global problem and one that the UK seems to be underprepared for according to Jen Easterly, the director of the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). He has warned the UK government that;

"they could be the victim of a 9/11-style cyber-attack unless they face up to the “magnitude of the threat” posed by ransomware."

There is a misguided view that "Hackers" or "Cyber Criminals" are just interested in big business or governments when it comes to attacks. The reality is the exact opposite. You may find state attackers targeting governments or FTSE 100 companies but just like there are large companies and small companies there are equally large criminal organisations and smaller groups of cyber attackers.

This means that the easier the target the more probability of an attack. We at Onyx IT take this threat seriously and want to ensure that all businesses in our area are, at the very least, aware of the risks their business faces and the risks they are exposed to right now. Whether or not you chose to work with Onyx IT is of lesser importance to us than making sure we spread the word of the threats posed to UK business owners so they do not suffer the same fate as Martin Ketlerborn.

As such we are offering free cyber security assessments to Norfolk-based businesses to ensure they are aware of their risks and how to mitigate them.

Should you wish to take advantage of this opportunity then please click the link below and sign up for your complimentary cyber security assessment.

Don't become a statistic of Ransomware, you can do something about it.