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Ransomware: Not Your Typical Threat

Lower Ransomware Risk with Education, Planning, and Relationship Building
by Jon Leer, Writer, Leer Technical Communications, LLC
Interviewed: John Galda, Director of Risk/Security at Charles River Development

© Valerijs Novickis

While security solutions continue to sprout up all over the globe promising firewalls of protection
against barbarians at the gate, ransomware attacks increase against small and critical
businesses. Rather than going for the big trophy enterprise, ransomware hackers use
unsophisticated, easy to build malware to harvest the easy cash from their victims. Before the
attack, the potential threat goes undetected by IT – there is no known signature. After the
attack, local, state, and federal authorities have difficulty tracking the culprits.

What’s So Unique about Ransomware?

What is it about ransomware that is making malware vendors scramble, small businesses
cringe, and authorities close cases as “unresolved”?

Ransomware is an elusive threat from unknown and often unsophisticated entities. Its key
attributes are:

• Attacks small businesses often with critical services (e.g., healthcare)
• Hard-to-detect because it has no known signature and is easily modified
79 Cyber Warnings E-Magazine November 2016 Edition
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