Why and how cyber crime is booming 

     2019 saw the biggest rise on online scams, phishing, ransomware attacks and compromised corporate and personal data in human history. Never before organized criminals had been able to execute such far reaching, long distance, damaging attacks to individuals, business and organizations.  From small business going bankrupt to entire cities shutting down services for extended periods of time as cyber criminals ransom, extort and financially erode the foundation over  which our digital modern society is built upon, Information.

Welcome to the future

     Like taken from a chapter of a dystopian sci-fi novel, the current state of cyber security is  worrisome, to say the least. As we enter 2020 the rate and sophistication of the attack techniques criminals use keeps growing exponentially.

     Cyber crime is booming these days with thousands of new malware, ransomware  threats released every single day, the pressure over individuals and corporate networks IT managers keeps surging by the minute.

     This first chapter of our guide will serve to educate you, on the globalized scale of the problem and how every small business should be enforcing higher protections standards in 2020. Our guide also contains steps you can take to educate yourself and your employees and protect your business critical information.

    You might think it is all about backups. Hint, the solution is more than performing backups to more than 1 location.

“No company or individual is immune from the danger of ransomware.”

      Bad actors worldwide employ the newest technology and massive resources to perform continuous, persistent, and pervasive attack on Los Angeles Business and American technological assets in general, sometimes for profit, other times to gain access to customer’s data and business intelligence.

      Ransomware is defined as a piece of software, maliciously introduced on your computer system and network that will take away access from your data and the ability to use it, by encrypting it and holding it in ransom. You will have to pay the hackers a hefty sum to regain access and sometimes prevent it from being maliciously published on the world wide web as penalty for not paying.  

    All kinds of ransomware share this common aim. To lock your hard disk drive or encrypt your documents, asking for a reward, usually to be paid in crypto-currencies to get your information back. 

    It’s the type of malware which frequently targets both technical and human flaws by trying to deny the target company access to its most sensitive information and systems.

 A bad actor utilizes a phishing attack or other sort of hacking to obtain entrance into a computer system or network. One way ransomware gets in your pc is in the email attachments which you might inadvertently download.

      Whenever your data, programs, and systems come under a ransomware attack, it can be a frightening and challenging situation to handle and bring your workforce and IT systems back into production.

     When a strain of malware infects a computer system, bad actors will encrypt most commonly-used document formats –as well as your whole hard disk, locking you from accessing your data, your documents and computer systems,  Sometimes preventing your entire workforce from operating your business, bringing your productivity to a screeching halt.

     The most effective approach to prevent ransomware would be to be more proactive by preventing strikes from occurring in the first place. In the following guide, we’ll discuss how to stop, mitigate and to avoid ransomware and hackers in general.

“Ransomware is on the rise; statistics put this number at almost 750% of attacks in the previous year.”

• The ransomware attack on Baltimore is especially revealing as its impacts continue to be felt. While the mayor rebuffed the criminals’ demand for $76,000, an early projected impact of the attack stands at $18.2 million. To date, Baltimore has already expended nearly $4.6 million on recovery efforts. (Goldberg Segalla LLP)
• Over 500 US schools were hit by ransomware in 2019 (Catalin Cimpanu for Zero Day).
• In 2019 alone ransomware generated over $25 million
• The average cost of ransomware attacks to businesses: over 100,000 Dollars per incident
• Criminals have graduated from targeting consumers to mainly target small business, institutions and larger organizations with the financial resources o pay a larger ransom.  

    50% of cyber-security experts do not believe their business are prepared to survive a ransomware attack.

    49 % view the federal government as having the greatest responsibility to protect cities from ransomware attacks.

    56 % would disapprove of their local government using tax dollars to pay a ransomware hacker.

    75 % of Americans are worried about ransomware threats to their personal data.

    Other notable findings from this study included the general American public awareness and concerns related to ransomware to be:

    Most Los Angeles and the American public, in general, share a common concern about ransomware attacks in cities, public institutions, and health organizations across the country, as noted in the “Local Government and Ransomware Study” from IBM Security and market and public opinion research firm Morning Consult indicated.