In Case You Missed Us: Polymorphic Ransomware on Tech Talk on KTRS

To pay or not to pay, that is the end-user's question. When the situation calls for whether someone should pay up in a ransomware attack, our IT expert, Jeff Groby suggests not. People who decide to pay the ransom can actually end up doing more harm than good. You are putting a big target on your back when you pay up by letting the cyber criminals know you're willing to pay. We joined the crew over at The Big 550 KTRS for Tech Talk to chat about polymorphic ransomware in theme with our topic for National Cyber Security Awareness Month!

What is Polymorphic Ransomware?

We've talked about ransomware on Tech Talk before, and this type of cyber attack is just as it sounds. Ransomware is an attack in which cyber criminals hold the victim's files and data captive and demand a ransom to be paid in bitcoin for their safe return. Ransomware rates have skyrocketed in years past and most protection software has been making the necessary changes to protect end-users from becoming victims. This is where polymorphic ransomware comes into play.

Polymorphic ransomware is the cyber criminals attempt at changing things up to evade traditional security set in place for ransomware attacks. This strand of cyber attacks is self-modifying and can still find a way to unleash havoc even when security is in place due to the fact they can avoid detection. Cyber criminals are notorious for being one-step ahead and finding new ways to keep old tricks alive.

To gauge the size of the epidemic, Jeff shared a story about a recent ransomware attack that the SumnerOne Solutions Team worked to resolve. Our team mitigated an attack that took down two servers in 60 minutes! In the matter of one hour, the criminals encrypted 600,000 files! Luckily, this customer has a solid backup and disaster recovery solution in action and we were able to have them back up and running the same day. Ransomware is a real deal threat, and it's something that we have seen on more than one occasion. Having a Managed IT Services provider backing you up when things go awry is something that we recommend and something we can help your business to do. To learn more about our services, contact us for an assessment.

Jeff's best tip for protecting your information from getting caught in a ransomware attack is to be a critical consumer. Ransomware is usually conducted via email, and by being critical about who is sending you the email and what you're clicking on is a great way to protect yourself. Our Tech Talk and National Cyber Security Awareness Month topic for this week will be on email security. Be sure to tune in or listen online to learn more.

Tech Talk Presented by SumnerOne

Each week we share our expert knowledge with the Guy Phillips Show on The Big 550 KTRS on Friday afternoons at 4:20. If you'd like to brush up on our Tech Talk segments of the past, click the button below to learn more. Each week we share the full video and our recap to help our listeners learn more about online security and SumnerOne. For more information, contact us.

 Originally published October 11, 2018, updated February 12, 2019