It was the infamous Wanna Cry ransomware attack that made people sit up and take notice. Not because it was the first of its kind but because it impacted people of all ages and from all walks of life throughout the world. By triggering system failures and by shutting down the computer systems and phone systems of hospitals, governments, and universities, the hackers were able to hold data assets, information and even the lives of the people to ransom. Ransomware, thus, is a growing cybersecurity menace, as it not just encrypts data (thereby causing downtime) but also demands ransom for restoring access to the data (and the access is deniedeven after payment as very often the data is irrevocably damaged or erased).
Costing over $100 million dollars, Wanna Cry was truly one of the worst cyber-attacks. The frequency and severity of ransomware attacks is substantiated by Cybersecurity Ventures with its forecasts that by the end of 2019 there will be a ransomware attack on businesses every 14 seconds and the global damage costs in connection with ransomware attacks would reach $11.5 billion annually.

Impact of Ransomware

The ransomware infection spreadswith the opening of a malware attachment or by downloading from an infected website. It then unleashes an unending torrent of woes against its target whether company, hospital, institution, or government. Ransomware poses as legitimate and reliable software or email and in the absence of a robust cybersecurity defence; it can have serious implications when downloaded. These include:

• Loss of reputation of the business or organization
• Breach of client /customer trust and confidence
• Great risk to PCs, laptops and mobile devices such as Smartphones, tablets, and iPads
• Huge threat to IoT devices such as sensors, smart TVs, toys, smart meters, commercial security systems and so on
• Infects Windows,Mac, Linux and VMware machines
• Encrypts backups, databases, and unmapped disk drives
• Permanent loss of data
• Unscheduled downtime
• Professional service costs for cracking the malware
• Legal implications with respect to regulatory disclosure

Mitigating Ransomware Risks

With ransomware posing huge threats to the credibility, permanence and stability of any business or organization, partnering with managed IT services provider who offers comprehensive and sophisticated cybersecurity solutions can help in mitigating the risks posed by ransomwareto a great extent.They help the business or organization in setting up not only robust strategies to prevent ransomware threats but also effective remediation plans to ensure business recovery and continuity after a malicious attack.Thus, they assure the security of the sensitive company information by ensuring that the IT environment is not vulnerable to attacks.