Page 64 - Cyber Defense Magazine RSA Edition for 2021

victims would feel they have no choice but to pay up – especially when sensitive personal data or medical
records are at stake, or, as in the case of Duesseldorf University Hospital, a life hangs in the balance.

Consider, too, initiatives like the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which places the
possessors of personally identifiable information at greater risk of substantial fines if that data is leaked,
and it’s clear that ransomware is a legal and ethical minefield that can only be successfully navigated by
steering well clear of it in the first place.

An end to ransomware

With ransomware posing an increasingly serious threat to all organizations, it’s essential to take
precautions – but not everybody is getting the message.

McAfee and CSIS surveyed nearly 1,000 organizations late last year and found that only 44 per cent had
cyber preparedness and incident response plans in place. Worse yet, just 32 per cent of respondents
believed their plan was actually effective.

The obvious first step, especially in light of the remote working boom, is to ensure timely patching of all
your organization’s software and devices. While this won’t guarantee protection against attack, it will
minimize your exposure.

Education is a key component of this. Organizations need to ensure that all of their employees are aware
of the importance of timely patching, and regularly briefed on the latest techniques being utilized by
cybercriminals. It’s every organization’s responsibility to engage their employees with that training – it
may seem time-consuming, but it’s vastly preferable to the alternative.

Above all else, though, is data. Organizations need to control who has access to their data, and know
exactly what they do with it. My company, Cryptoloc, is dedicated to protecting that data – which is why
we’ve developed the world’s safest cybersecurity platform.

Our patented technology – developed in collaboration with an elite team of cryptographers,
mathematicians, data scientists and software developers – combines three different encryption
algorithms into one unique multilayer process. It can be deployed across a wide range of applications,
including file storage, document management and delivery, and counterfeit prevention and detection
solutions. Our clients can send fully encrypted documents straight from Microsoft Outlook, and develop
and build their own products on our secure digital platform.

Our ISO-certified technologies ensure that organizations and their employees, contractors, clients and
customers can interact securely, with each piece of data assigned its own separate audit trail, and every
user and action verified and accounted for.

Better yet, our ‘Zero Knowledge’ protocols mean we know nothing about the data our clients store with
us. Our escrow encryption key recovery process ensures their data is theirs and theirs alone, and can
only be accessed by the people they choose.

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