Philip Goguen
Mainstream media is pushing the cybercrime threat every day. Ransomware steals the headlines, but how much of a threat does ransomware actually pose to your business?
The threat of ransomware or cybercrime cannot be ignored or played down. Hackers do exist and they are active. However, threat actors can be stopped by installing the appropriate cybersecurity defences.
Business owners and decision-makers in executive positions must make the right decisions. Cybercrime can be a costly business but there are cost-effective solutions.
The key to preventing cybercrime is to ensure your staff is aware of the latest hacking techniques, the threat of ransomware is considerably lower. And you won’t hear mainstream sources telling you that. They want to sell you their technology.
Look Out for Phishing Emails
Email phishing scams are the most popular methods employed by threat actors. It is estimated that 93% of phishing attacks target email users. Spoof emails designed to appear as though it has been sent by a trusted source present a real danger if you’re not aware of the threat.
Spoof emails can lead to hackers planting ransomware on a business system, but once hackers have access to a computer they can use any type of malware.
To prevent the threat of ransomware, you need to be able to block bad actors at the first point. Whilst anti-virus software has a good reputation for blocking malware from gaining access to a computer system, anti-virus programs only recognise and prevent malicious codes that are known to be in circulation.
That can still leave you exposed to malicious malware. However, it takes the talent of an expert coder to create malicious code that can evade cybersecurity defences. And the hackers that are capable of breaking into business systems are mostly employed by nation-states and big businesses.
Even the mainstream media acknowledges that state-backed hackers are a major concern for cybersecurity professionals. However, for the most part, they are only attacking one another.
The danger for businesses outside the multi-million dollar bubble is that malicious code is accessible to other hackers. And it’s the mainstream hackers that target SMEs on the understanding they are more likely to be successful.
Hacking Tool Kits
Threat actors are becoming more sophisticated these days. As you would expect of any multi-billion dollar industry, technologies and techniques evolve. Given cybercrime will be worth an estimated $10.5 trillion by 2025, hackers are extremely innovative.
What’s more, bad actors with the know-how to infect computers and take over business networks in a ransomware attack are selling their tools and knowledge on the dark web.
Reports reveal that hacking toolkits or Hacker as a Service kit (HaaS) is accessible to anyone willing to pay the fee. And some hacking tools are not very expensive.
Researchers in the UK discovered that, on average, some 65,000 cyberattacks targeting SMEs are sent per day. Every business should expect to receive at least one or two cyberattacks a week.
It’s not that the threat of ransomware does not exist, but bad actors are not a threat if you can identify the threat. Cybersecurity awareness training plays a huge role in protecting your business network.
