Today I am running a guest post by Panda Security, courtesy of my friends at Siege Media. As you may have heard, 2019 was the year of ransomware. The target? The public sector. With variations such as Cryptolocker, German Wiper and Robinhood, there was a shocking number of government ransomware attacks this past year. Each variation was a little different, but they all had their cost.
Despite this security risk, the American citizens aren’t keen on their tax dollars going toward the ransom being paid or investing in more precautions. A survey by Panda Security found that 86% of U.S. citizens don’t think the government should pay the ransom in the event of a ransomware attack. In addition, half of Americans don’t think the government should invest in any additional cybersecurity precautions.
Mitigation of these ransomware attacks is not an easy task, whether or not the ransom is paid. To give you an idea of what the true cost is (hint: it’s more than just the ransom) we have examples of past government ransomware attacks. Read through to get a better understanding of the impact these attacks have.
More information:
- Panda Security – Survey: Taxpayers Don’t Want Their Dollars Going Toward Ransomware Attacks – the original article goes into more detail
- Ransomware Mitigation – Texas Shows How It Is Done
- Ransomware Is Back and Worse Than Ever
FEB
About the Author:
I am a cybersecurity and IT instructor, cybersecurity analyst, pen-tester, trainer, and speaker. I am an owner of the WyzCo Group Inc. In addition to consulting on security products and services, I also conduct security audits, compliance audits, vulnerability assessments and penetration tests. I also teach Cybersecurity Awareness Training classes. I work as an information technology and cybersecurity instructor for several training and certification organizations. I have worked in corporate, military, government, and workforce development training environments I am a frequent speaker at professional conferences such as the Minnesota Bloggers Conference, Secure360 Security Conference in 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, the (ISC)2 World Congress 2016, and the ISSA International Conference 2017, and many local community organizations, including Chambers of Commerce, SCORE, and several school districts. I have been blogging on cybersecurity since 2006 at http://wyzguyscybersecurity.com