After WannaCry

It’s been almost a month since the WannaCry ransomware attack became world news. Companies that were unprepared for a cyber-disaster such as this one, paid a hefty price. Not just literally, if they paid the ransom, but they also paid figuratively with all the data they lost.

For those of you living in an analog cave, WannaCry is a type of ransomware that spread around the world last month. It ended up affecting more than 200,000 organizations in over 150 countries. Some of the biggest data theft came at the hands of hospitals. Not since 2008, has there been such a significant outbreak of malware worm. This was the power of WannaCry, and what may continue to be the power of it, if you and your company aren’t on top of the situation.

Once ransomware infects your system you are at their mercy. It will encrypt files, locking you out, and then demand a payment before a de-encryption key is provided. They demand payment using Bitcoin, due to the cyber-currency’s anonymous nature, in order to unlock the files. If you think this was a one time deal, think again. Cyber attacks are only becoming more common.

What lessons have been already learned from the WannaCry attack? Businesses are investing in data backups, employee training and maintaining up-to-date operating systems. While any type of ransomware is ineffective against a company that has it’s data backed up, it can still cause a minor disruption. Having proper backups is the fine line between “minor disruption” and a complete organizational shutdown.

After this latest cyber attack, companies now understand that having a recovery system in place means ransomware infections can’t destroy your personal data forever. Having your staff fully trained for such an event can also negate damage. There’s no excuse for failing to backup your data, as the consequences can be catastrophic. But with most things in life and business, we don’t learn our lessons until we are forced to.