How CFOs Can Mitigate the Risk of Ransomware.

• Author: Mehlman, Marc
• Position: Chief financial officers

Over the past year, a surging cybersecurity threat has infiltrated the computers of individuals and organizations around the world. Known as ransomware, this type of cyberattack holds sensitive data hostage and then forces victims to pay up to get it back or to stop it from being released or destroyed. Although major ransomware attacks have made recent headlines, this type of threat really isn't new. In fact, the earliest forms of ransomware came out around 1996, with extortion-based ransomware emerging in the mid-2000s. But the threat is growing. According to Barkly, which offers anti-ransomware protection, ransomware continued to experience record growth in 2017, with fifteen percent or more of businesses in the top ten industry sectors being attacked.

What Is Ransomware?

In a ransomware attack, victims often receive an email addressed to them with an attachment or URL that appears valid but, once accessed, propagates malicious ransomware. In recent years, criminals have even exploited unpatched software and devices to infiltrate legitimate websites with malware code. This code infects computers by encrypting files and folders on all drives--and potentially other computers on the same network. Most users are unaware of the attack until they can no longer access their data or begin receiving messages detailing the attack. These messages typically demand a ransom payment in exchange for a decryption key. The ransom is often required in bitcoin, because this cryptocurrency is practically impossible to trace.

Unfortunately, according to the 2016 Kaspersky Security Bulletin, twenty percent of businesses that paid the ransom never retrieved their files. While it's unsurprising that some attackers have no intention of returning what they stole, perhaps the most damaging result of ransomware is lost work time. According to Barkly, seventy-two percent of businesses whose computers were infected lost access to data for two days or more, with one third going for five days or longer without access. More often than not, lost time and lost business can cause much more damage than the ransom itself.

Recent Ransomware Attacks

Over the past year, ransomware has victimized numerous organizations around the world, large and small. The WannaCry virus penetrated more than 300,000 computers in more than 150 countries and resulted in $4 billion in estimated damages and loss of revenue worldwide. The Petya virus, which began with a widely used tax and accounting...