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Small businesses a target of malware
In the world of malware, media attention has been almost singularly focused on a series of high-profile attacks on massive organizations, including a breach on a large retailer that led to the private information of more than 100 million customers being compromised/ But according to a recent article, small businesses are particularly vulnerable to malware breaches since, unlike their larger counterparts, they tend to be ill-equipped to deal with the repercussions.
An article in the Raleigh News and Observer detailed one such attack on a small insurance business. According to the article, the company's president, booted up the computers one day only to discover that all the company's digital files had been encrypted to prevent internal access. The culprit was discovered soon enough when a pop-up appeared demanding $300 for a code that would unlock all the maliciously encrypted files. Thecompany had fallen victim to a piece of ransomware called CryptoLocker - malicious software that has spread to 25 million systems since it first appeared in December. Despite likely originating in Eastern Europe, CryptoLocker has primarily infected U.S. systems.
The News and Observer article pointed out that small businesses are often targeted because they generally lack the security infrastructure to handle an attack. Unfortunately, some small businesses end up paying the ransom. As one CryptoLocker victim said, "The quickest, easiest way to handle this was to pay."
However, paying the ransom not only taxes funds but funnels company money into a global criminal enterprise. Ransomware criminals tend to elude capture by demanding payment in untraceable e-currency. Their level of technological sophistication enables them to quickly overpower small businesses that do not have the security measures in place to prevent their data from being hijacked.
Malware continues to pose threat
According to a recent report from Kindsight Security Labs, malware shows no sign of slowing down. The report - which analyzed malware trends in the third quarter of 2013 - found that the malware infection rates persisted steadily for broadband customers, with an average of 11 percent per month experiencing malware. Of that 11 percent, 6 percent of the attacks were identified as posing a high risk. And consistent with CryptoLocker's trajectory, a huge chunk of those attacks took place in the U.S.
Meanwhile, mobile malware is at an all-time high, according to the same report. The report found that mobile malware infections shot up 20 percent in 2013's third quarter. The vast majority of mobile malware attacks took place in the U.S. on Android devices. The top two most virulent pieces of mobile malware both focus their attacks on extracting privileged information from the devices they infect.
Data encryption is one way to ensure the security your data. It is especially important to secure data in the increasingly cloud-centered world. Because of the cloud's multi-tenacity, it is important that businesses take additional security measures to protect their data.
For a highly secure solution to your data protection needs, be sure to look into encryption today.
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