Ransomware Victimized Dozens of US Cities and Schools in 2019
Summary
On Thursday, the company published a report detailing the ongoing ransomware epidemic, which has transitioned from targeting consumer PCs to preying on poorly-secured computers at large organizations, particularly from the public sector. "Given that ransomware attacks against governments, healthcare providers and educational institutions have indeed been proven to work, these sectors are likely to continue to be heavily targeted in 2020," the company went on to warn. When it comes to ransomware, the attacks can unfold by secretly infecting not just one computer system, but whole fleets of machines to encrypt all the files on board. The antivirus provider Kaspersky Lab has also been tracking the ransomware attacks, and has found that they can end up demanding between $5,000 to as much as $5 million from victims when they target a municipal organization. To change the status quo, the public sector will need to prioritize IT security while refraining from paying the ransom demands, as doing so only incentives the hackers to strike again.
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