Kevin Henry - 4 tips to avoid ransomware

The news is full of stories about the impact of ransomware and how it has affected many businesses, governments and individuals.

The proliferation and ease of ransomware infections underlines the importance of good security practices. Like the examples of high-seas piracy that have persisted over the years there is no quick or easy cure.

Doing business in a networked world involves risk. Trading on the high seas is both profitable and necessary for the economy to exist, but the adversaries are numerous, capable and determined. Since the adversaries are based in many international locations the identification and prosecution of the thieves is difficult and maybe nearly impossible.

I personally thought that the attacks against very critical services such as healthcare and infrastructure would spur governments into concerted action. But that has not happened – perhaps for many reasons that I will not speculate on.

I will not advise whether or not to pay the ransom. We have seen cases where essential business operations would be crippled resulting in enormous impact to millions of people and perhaps the ransom was justified. But do we want to support criminal activity? Tough question.