White Paper

3 Essential Steps For Responding To Ransomware Attacks

 
Likely because most victims comply with their demands, the incidence of attacks by ransomware hackers has exploded in 2016. Guidance issued by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) in July notes that, on average, there have been 4,000 reported ransomware attacks per day thus far in 2016, far exceeding the average of 1,000 attacks per day last year.

What Is Ransomware?
Ransomware is a type of malware that denies the affected user access to his or her data, typically by encrypting it. Once the user’s data is encrypted, the hacker who launched the ransomware attack notifies him or her that, in order to obtain a key to decrypt the data, he or she must pay a ransom, often in a cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin. Hackers sometimes impersonate government entities – like the IRS or FBI – in their ransom notes.

Can I Just Pay The Ransom And Move On?
While it may be tempting to do so, there are serious risks to this approach. Even if the ransom demanded by a ransomware hacker is not prohibitively expensive, an organization victimized by an attack must bear in mind that simply paying off the hacker is unlikely to make its problems go away.

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Damon W. Silver, Esq. is an associate in the New York City office of Jackson Lewis P.C. He is a member of the firm’s Privacy e-Communication and Data Security Group. Mr. Silver has written several publications on topics relating to privacy and data security.