Today, the FTC is announcing some guidance
on ransomware based off of lessons
that we learned at an afternoon workshop
we held on September 7, about ransomware, where we brought
together leading security experts, researchers,
technologists, and law enforcers to talk
about the threats associated with ransomware and some steps
that consumers and businesses can take
to defend against this threat.
Ransomware is a form of malicious software or malware
that uses tools, such as encryption,
to hold data hostage usually in exchange
for some kind of payment that's frequently demanded in bitcoin.
There are many different variants of ransomware.
Some of them operate in slightly different ways.
There are some we know that will actually try to steal data off
of computers.
There are some that will delete files.
Others will put up a lock screen and give the victim
messages explaining that your computer has been compromised
and usually providing some sort of instructions
about how you can make payment back and get access
to your data.
Ransomware can have some serious effects
on businesses and consumers.
It has an economic effect in the fact that it can shut down
your business' operations, which can seriously
hurt the bottom line.
But it can also hurt consumers.
Ransomware has the potential to steal consumers data that
is on your networks.
So if you're holding sensitive consumer information,
that's a serious risk that you have to consider.
There's also the fact that ransomware
can deny critical or even lifesaving
services to consumers in an emergency,
particularly in the health care context.
Phishing scams are far and away the most common way
that ransomware is delivered.
Frequently, these are emails that are targeted
to users in an organization.
Sometimes they're just spam emails,
but sometimes they're pretty sophisticated
and will actually target your organization in particular.
The criminals that do these sometimes prepare quite a bit
and do a lot of research.
So they can be very tricky to defend against.
There are a few different things that businesses should do
to defend against ransomware.
These generally include a combination
of training and cyber hygiene.
So on the training side, it's important to train
employees to be cautious when they're online,
not to click on things that they don't know where they're coming
from, especially anything that's coming
from outside the organization.
Another important part of any defense are backups.
Backups are probably the key to being
able to move on from a ransomware attack quickly
without ever needing to talk to the people that
perpetrate these attacks.
So Backups should be done regularly
and on a routine basis.
And for them to be effective, they
need to be kept separate from your network.
If you do become a victim, hopefully you've
got backups in place that you can fall back on, and quickly
restore your business, and any sensitive data that you
need with minimal data loss and minimal interruption
to your operations.
But if that's not the case, there
are a number of factors that you should consider
before paying a ransom.
Law enforcement and the FTC do not recommend paying the ransom
if it can in any way be avoided.
There is no guarantee that paying the ransom
will actually get your data back,
and there are examples where businesses who've
tried to pay only find that they're
met with increased demands or that the data is deleted
anyway and never returned.
If you're looking for more information on malware,
phishing, or ransomware, you can visit FTC.gov.
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