Video Transcript
Hi, I'm Sean Graham and I'm a Risk Advisor and Cyber Insurance Specialist at CapriCMW.
Businesses of all sizes are being targeted everyday by cyber criminals, and the consequences can be devastating. Ransomware is one of the most damaging types of cyber attacks. It's a type of malware that locks users out of their devices or blocks access to files. Although not a new threat, there has been a resurgence of its frequency and a constantly evolving one.
Cyber criminals are becoming more sophisticated, with new strains being produced and new tactics being used to distribute the malicious code. The most common access point is your employees clicking an infected email. Firewalls and anti-virus programs are useless once it's in your system. Ransomware is designed to travel across networks to multiple devices infecting anything that is connected, wirelessly or by wire. Within minutes, your systems can be fully infected. Once in your system, it often lingers for many months, worming its way into your backups without being detected.
Ransomware, once activated, is designed to encrypt files so that they can only be recovered using a specific key provided by the criminals holding your system hostage. The victims will receive a message demanding a ransom. The only way to access your key to unlock your data, in most cases, is by paying the attacker. Even if your files are released upon paying the ransom, your system is infected with the malware. To clean your system of the ransomware, it will often take IT professionals many days, leaving you without access to your vital systems during the restoration period. The data itslef may also be damaged in the process, so you may still end up with significant data loss.
So what can you do to protect your business?
Cyber insurance has developed to help businesses reduce the impact, respond and recover in the aftermath of a ransomware attack .When triggered, cyber insurance helps by first, covering the costs to clean and restore your systems by IT restoration professionals. Secondly, it covers the loss of profits and continuing expenses while your systems are down. It alleviates the stress of the financial burden that businesses face after an attack. Bottom line - cyber insurance is peace of mind, knowing you're covered if you happen to be one of the numerous organizations hit by randomware.
For more information, or to get a quote, visit capricmw.ca/cyber. Thanks.
