Hackers Use Ransomware to Attack Companies, Counties
Ransomware attacks continue to be used by cyber criminals to get easy money from unsuspecting companies and businesses. Recently, two chemical companies have been hit with ransomware attacks. An employee of one of the companies affected, Hexion and Momentive, claimed that their Windows computers were hit with a blue screen error, files encrypted, and had their network connection disrupted. In a press release, the company announced that they have taken appropriate steps to resume normal operations and to restore their lost network.
The second company affected, Norsk Hydro, was forced to temporarily shut down in order to fix the issue. Like any other ransomware attack, the hackers leave a message ordering the user to pay a certain amount to unlock their computer, however the company said that they intend to just restore the data from their back up files.
In a similar incident, officials in Jackson County, Georgia agreed to pay a whopping US$400,000 in ransomware fee in order to get rid of a ransomware infection in their internal network. The county had resorted to doing their daily work manually, as they had lost all access to their computerised files. After consulting with the FBI, the decision to pay the ransom was to avoid waiting months in order to rebuild the system.
With the constant threat of ransomware, it is best to protect yourself with an online security solution. Cyber criminals do not just target companies and businesses, but also individuals and private networks. In order to thoroughly safeguard your devices and your home networks from similar threats, Trend Micro Maximum Security is the best defence. With Maximum Security, you can use its Folder Shield feature to further protect your most private files from any form of ransomware attack.
