AUS
NZ
UK
CA
USA
IND
Summary
- Ransomware becoming a growing issue across the world.
- To pay or not to pay, that is the question!
- How can the number of attacks be brought down?
Ransomware seems to be slowly becoming a huge problem in New Zealand with several Companies feeling helpless and trapped enough to consider having to pay the money the only doable option. It was recently unearthed by David Clarke, the Minister for Digital Economy and Communications that more and more people are paying ransom to the miscreants, rather than reporting their crime right away.
Image Source: Copyright © 2021 Kalkine Media
Why is paying such a huge issue?
Incident Response Solutions a cyber security organization founder Campbell McKenzie is of the view that several of his clients had become so overwhelmed by the cyber-attack that they didn’t feel they had any other choice than to pay. While paying money for ransomware has been widely discouraged because of the simple reason that it could lead to a further increase in the number of cases, people who face issues like their business coming to a standstill because of no data, tend to feel like paying the criminals is the least time-consuming way to deal with the problem.
Also read: Cyber attacks on the rise in Australia as cyber criminals spare no sector
The ask
McKenzie further revealed how small organizations have paid sums of NZ$5000 for their data, while the ask from bigger organizations is a lot more. Different kinds of malware attacks, ransomware being a part of it, increased manifold last year, and the reason for it is being said to be an increase in Emotet, which is a trojan Malware variety, as per the findings of CERT NZ, the Government Agency.
A global issue
Not only New Zealand, but different other countries across the world are also witnessing a lot of similar crimes and the concern on how to be able to fight them the correct way is being risen. The Colonial Pipeline hack in the US caused gas lines across the East Coast. When the biggest meat processor in the world JS was attacked supply-chain was disrupted severely. Besides this there have been increasing cyber-attacks on hospitals in Ireland and Schools in Iowa, making this more than a regional problem.
Also read: Waikato DHB latest to be hit by cyberattack
It’s a global problem that needs quick and efficient solutions. When the infrastructure and resources of an organization are hit, they rarely understand what the best course of action is and end up pay huge amounts of money to people. There is need for some sort of protocol that is followed every time a similar attack occurs. Giving money to the hackers would simply mean adding fuel to the fire and may even result in further increase of cases in the time to come.
Read now: Colonial Pipeline Service To Remain Suspended For The Week
