Visit CBS's 60-Minutes Episode, "How cybercriminals hold data hostage... and why the best solution is often paying a ransom"
Targets have included hospitals and municipalities, but the FBI says anyone on the internet should expect to be attacked by cybercriminals.
Highlights from the Full Episode
Today, 26 percent of cities and counties say they fend off an attack on their networks every hour. Perhaps even worse, dozens of hospitals have been held hostage across the country.
CEO, Steve Long, of Hancock Regional Hospital in Indianapolis says: We had never been through this before. And it's something that I read in the journals. And I say, "Oh, those poor folks. I'm glad that's never going to happen to us." But when you come in and you see that the files on your computer have been renamed and all of the files were renamed either "we apologize for files" or "we're sorry." And there was a moment when I thought, "Well, maybe they're not so bad. They said they were sorry." But, in fact, they had encrypted every file that we had on our computers and on the network.
This isn’t only big city stuff… Mayor David Miller was surprised his town of 12,000 would be a target; not much to notice in Leeds, at least not since Charles Barkley graduated from the high school. David Miller, “I didn't know that this malware attack was actually a ransomware attack. As soon as we found that out, that took it to a little different level as it costs money.” Like the Hancock Regional Hospital, the city of Leeds was cast back into the age of paper: no email, no access to its personnel files or financial systems.
The FBI's Mike Christman says cybercrooks know governments and hospitals are likely to pay because they can't afford not to. Until his recent promotion, Christman was in charge of the FBI's cybercrime unit. He says, “By 2020, I think everyone should expect to be attacked.” Christman says in 2017, 1,700 successful ransomware attacks were reported but he figures that's less than half. Most businesses, he says, would rather pay than admit they were hacked. I think it is. “Cybercrime has really become a way of life and connected to everything we do, and really every, every crime we see. And I know that by 2020, we expect to see 50 billion devices worldwide connected to the internet.” Cybercriminals may lock your phone, your house, your car, in exchange for $50 to unlock it.
Your Network Could Be Compromised in Minutes Tom Pace is vice president of Blackberry-Cylance, a leading security firm. Shows viewers how he could build ransomware and encrypt his network files within 5-minutes. He introduces viewers to a website designed to give pre-built ransomware code away to hackers in exchange for a cut of the ransom pay. It is an automated process that is gaining steam in the industry. Ransomware is expected to be a billion-dollar industry.
Watch the Entire Episode on 60-Minutes Here:
SEE WHY HUNDREDS OF CLINICS ARE ON-BOARDING WITH STRATX IT'S INNOVATIVE MANAGED SECURITY SUITE TO DEFEND RANSOMWARE ATTACKS.
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