It must feel like a plot straight out of an espionage film. An elite team of hackers, working for a rogue nation, create a devastating program which takes advantage of an unknown flaw in your company’s software. The doomsday clock is ticking down on your organization’s amount of time to fix this.
So who has been brazen enough to do this to you? The most lethal type of hackers are known as APTs (Advanced Persistent Threats). These are not just nation-states, but also highly-skilled criminal enterprises that carry out technically-difficult targeted hacks. Think Mr. Robot meets Mission Impossible.
Now that you are at their mercy, do you give into their demands and pay the ransom? Some cyber criminals do return data to users after the ransom amount has been agreed upon and exchanged, but caving into their demands is still a major risk. There’s a reason why countries don’t negotiate with terrorists. Give a mouse a tiny bite of cheese, and that same mouse will come back later for a whole wheel of Parmigiano.
Ransom amounts often increase when deadlines are missed; and depending on how diabolical your cyber attackers are, they might come back for an even higher monetary gain after you pay the hefty ransom. Even without surrendering payment, your business’s information remains in the hands of cyber-criminals where it’s vulnerable and inaccessible to you. Most businesses cannot operate without access to their business data and the longer the data is gone, the more of a nightmare it will become financially. And let’s not forgot that your reputation is on the line with your customers, who value the credibility of your organization.
So instead of wondering how your company got into some tech-thriller novel/big-budget Hollywood movie, art-imitates-life kind of situation…protect your data at all costs. Ask yourself after reading through the scenario that was laid out: “How much is your data worth to you?” Nordic Backup can give you peace of mind knowing that all your data is secure.
