Insurance underwriter Beazley: "Ransomware attacks will be four times higher in 2016"

The Wall Street Journal is getting the message. They said : "For companies concerned about the soaring number of ransomware attacks–in which hackers take control of data or systems and demand payment to release them–the good news is such ransoms are typically small, often in the hundreds of dollars.

The bad news list is longer: These attacks are growing in number and sophistication, encouraged by a high payment rate, while regulators still will scrutinize victim companies for data-management and disclosure practices.

Insurance underwriter Beazley released a report Thursday in which it said ransomware attacks will be four times higher in 2016 than last year."

Beazley themselves said: "Ransomware attacks continued to increase rapidly during the first nine months of 2016. The trend was particularly pronounced in the financial services, retail and hospitality sectors.

Ransom demands remain small, averaging just $1,000. New ransomware variants like Zepto, the increased availability of ransomware-as-a-service, and readily available toolkits make it easy for less sophisticated attackers to launch these types of attacks. Most organizations are infected because an employee clicks on a malicious attachment or a bad link in an email message."

Beazley has helped clients handle more than 4,500 data breaches since the launch of Beazley Breach Response in 2009 and is the only insurer with a dedicated in-house team focusing exclusively on helping clients handle data breaches. Beazley’s BBR Services team coordinates the expert forensic, legal, notification and credit monitoring services that clients need to satisfy all legal requirements and maintain customer confidence. In addition to coordinating data breach response, BBR Services maintains and develops Beazley’s suite of risk management services, designed to minimize the risk of a data breach occurring.

Four steps organizations can take to help protect their data

Perfect cyber security is impossible to attain, but there are steps organizations can take to protect their data. Here are four key steps organizations can take to minimize the risk:

1. Deploy prevention and detection tools;
2. Use threat intelligence services;
3. Train managers and employees on cyber security and threat awareness; and
4. Conduct risk assessments focused on identifying and protecting sensitive data.

We could not agree more!