Ransomware is no longer just a trade term. It would be difficult to be unaware of the disaster and havoc ransomware can wreak upon an organization. DATAVERSITY brought this interesting and somewhat alarming topic to our attention in their article, “Ransomware’s Menace Goes Far Beyond Encryption.”
We all have those nightmares. No, not the naked at work ones. These are the ones that send fear down the spine of anyone who has had their data hijacked. Not having access to your most valuable asset and then to have the thieves encrypt the data and demand money. They are banking that you’ll buy access to your files back – and most do.
Sometimes not having access isn’t the worst case scenario depending on your business and your data. Threatening to publicly release private data can be even more risky for those with sensitive financial and personal information.
Now that I have scared you half to death, use this as my personal PSA to safeguard your data. Use a solution that is able to protect your backups and backup media from ransomware by stopping infected files from being backed up, and keeping your backups from ever being encrypted in the first place. The peace of mind alone is worth it.
Melody K. Smith
Sponsored by Access Innovations, the world leader in thesaurus, ontology, and taxonomy creation and metadata application.
