The ransomware epidemic has taken the world by storm. It has impacted everyone from large enterprises to home users. The small and medium businesses (SMBs) have seen a drastic uptake in ransomware attacks in 2016. This year alone, The Inquirer reported the number of ransomware attacks hitting the SMB market has increased 800%. Ransomware distributers have found by targeting the SMB market, their successful payout rate is higher. Meaning, although they may not be extorting large amounts of money from each attack, more victims are paying to restore their files. But why? Because typically, SMBs don’t have the extent of safeguards large businesses do. They also tend to lack adequate backup files, leaving no choice but to pay. This doesn’t have to be the case.
Protecting the SMBs
Superior security software should be available to everyone from large scale businesses to home users and everyone in between. It should also not cost a fortune. That being said, SMBs don’t have to pay millions for excellent security software that has been proven to effectively block ransomware. With its proprietary application whitelisting technology, PC Matic Pro is the best security solution for SMBs. Application whitelisting has been named a part of NSA’s best practices and PC users have been encouraged to implement whitelisting technology by the US-CERT and FBI. Application whitelisting is a proactive detection method that has been proven to prevent more malware attacks than security solutions that use traditional blacklisting methods.
As a security measure, everyone should be backing up their data as well. This should be done with an external device, that is unplugged from the computer once the backup process is completed. It is best practices to back up your data on a daily basis.
