Don't pay the ransom; take these five steps instead

THEY say an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, and this is as true for your business as it is for your health. This thought seems to be on the mind of Interpol recently, as it warns us that ransomware attacks have spiked due to the global pandemic.

The world of work has changed rapidly in the last few months, and many more people are now working from home. Unfortunately, it is no secret that telecommuting increases an organisation's attack surface, leaving it more vulnerable to ransomware than ever before.

Specifically, there have been prolific attacks on healthcare providers, starting with an ST Engineering US subsidiary that was targeted in June. Ransomware attacks are not exclusive to any sectors. Asia Pacific continued to experience a higher-than-average encounter rate for ransomware attacks, 1.7 times higher than the rest of the world. This is despite a 29 per cent decline when compared to the previous year's findings in 2018.