{"id":2939,"date":"2013-07-15T12:18:58","date_gmt":"2013-07-15T16:18:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.nccomputertech.com\/?p=2939"},"modified":"2013-07-15T12:18:58","modified_gmt":"2013-07-15T16:18:58","slug":"ransomware-targets-smaller-businesses-security-ceo-warns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2013\/07\/15\/ransomware-targets-smaller-businesses-security-ceo-warns\/","title":{"rendered":"Ransomware targets smaller businesses, security CEO warns"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Trending cyber attacks such as ransomware may be typically overlooked by small and midsize businesses, but the CEO of security firm Lumension warns that they are actually in the line of fire.<br \/>\nPat Clawson, LumensionPat Clawson<br \/>\nAround the world, ransomware has been proved to be effective in midsized business environments and below, mainly due to the lack of tools available to deal with the attack, said Pat Clawson, chairman and CEO of Lumension, which is based in Scottsdale, Arizona.<br \/>\n&#8220;Most corporations have the means to deal with that outright from a technology and people perspective,&#8221; he said. &#8220;However, if it is a ten person business environment, it is going to cost them a lot of money to get the issue resolved.&#8221;<br \/>\nClawson admits that it is not uncommon for these smaller businesses to even consider paying the ransom with the hope all of the stolen data returns.<br \/>\n&#8220;For that reason, ransomware is more effective when it targets SMBs that do not have the ability to fight it by themselves with technology or people,&#8221; he said.<br \/>\nKnowledge and power<br \/>\nThe benefit that bigger companies have is access to the necessary tools and manpower to take care of the problem, as well as prevent it from happening in the first place.<br \/>\n&#8220;The guys who create the ransomware are also smart enough to know where the money is to be made,&#8221; Clawson said. &#8220;Instead of corporations, they tend to target SMBs and individual people that may fall prey to the attack.&#8221;<br \/>\nIn addition to having the necessary tools to combat ransomware, Clawson said corporations have a culture where staff are more aware of the pitfalls of ransomware, if it manages to get through at all.<br \/>\n&#8220;Their technology is already catching the ransomware at the gateway,&#8221; he said. &#8220;However, if something does get through, their ability to undo the ransomware is significantly easier than for a private business or single user on their own.&#8221;<br \/>\nvia <a href=\"http:\/\/www.pcworld.com\/article\/2044267\/ransomware-targets-smaller-businesses-security-ceo-warns.html\" target=\"_blank\">Ransomware targets smaller businesses, security CEO warns | PCWorld<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Trending cyber attacks such as ransomware may be typically overlooked by small and midsize businesses, but the CEO of security [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[7,9],"tags":[655,888,1167],"class_list":["post-2939","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-security","category-software","tag-malware","tag-ransomware","tag-virus"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/papNkV-Lp","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":8721,"url":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2015\/11\/05\/nasty-new-ransomware-program-threatens-to-leak-your-files-online\/","url_meta":{"origin":2939,"position":0},"title":"Nasty new ransomware program threatens to leak your files online","author":"NCCT","date":"November 5, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Lucian Constantin | PCWorld Ransomware creators have taken their extortion one step further: in addition to encrypting people\u2019s private files and asking for money before releasing a key, they now threaten to publish those files on the Internet if they\u2019re not paid. This worrying development has recently been observed in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Security&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Security","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/category\/security\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8920,"url":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2016\/05\/17\/8920\/","url_meta":{"origin":2939,"position":1},"title":"Tech support scammers now utilizing ransomware-like lock screens to threaten people","author":"NCCT","date":"May 17, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"By Justin Luna | Neowin Some of us may be very well aware of the classic tech support scam stories, where a man randomly calls people, and informs them that they are from \"Windows company\" and that the call recipient's computer has been detected full of viruses. These cold callers\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Security&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Security","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/category\/security\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9168,"url":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2017\/05\/21\/fix-for-wannacry\/","url_meta":{"origin":2939,"position":2},"title":"Fix for WannaCry","author":"NCCT","date":"May 21, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Llf04BW5v3A Megan Morrone talks to Iain Thomson about a possible fix for those infected with the Wannacry ransomware. Researchers have found a fix to unlock affected computers. The tool called wannakiwi allows you to avoid paying the bitcoin ransom, but only if you're running Windows XP, Windows 7, and Windows\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Security&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Security","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/category\/security\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/Llf04BW5v3A\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":9166,"url":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2017\/05\/15\/this-week-in-tech-614-46-at-the-piggly-wiggly\/","url_meta":{"origin":2939,"position":3},"title":"This Week in Tech 614: $46 at the Piggly Wiggly","author":"NCCT","date":"May 15, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=d3Br2lZcce0 The WannaCry ransomware attack is far from over. Amazon introduces the Echo Show - will the touchscreen voice assistant\/videophone flop? Microsoft announces their own voice assistant, the Cortana Speaker. The US plans to ban laptops on flights from Europe. Comcast and Charter agree not to compete on wireless. Russian\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Security&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Security","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/category\/security\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/d3Br2lZcce0\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":9210,"url":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2017\/07\/09\/this-week-in-tech-622-running-for-human\/","url_meta":{"origin":2939,"position":4},"title":"This Week in Tech 622: Running for Human","author":"NCCT","date":"July 9, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"https:\/\/youtu.be\/IJp_uFA_-tU Huge pro-Net Neutrality protests planned for this week. The first Tesla Model 3 rolled off the line on Friday. Sexual Harassment in Silicon Valley. The Nokia 3310 Trump\/Putin \"Caviar\" phone costs $2500. the iPhone 8 might use facial recognition instead of Touch ID. Merck shut down by Petya ransomware.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Technology&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Technology","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/category\/technology\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/IJp_uFA_-tU\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":6142,"url":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2014\/08\/06\/department-of-homeland-security-warns-retailers-of-backoff-pos-malware-techspot\/","url_meta":{"origin":2939,"position":5},"title":"Department of Homeland Security warns retailers of &#8216;Backoff&#8217; POS malware &#8211; TechSpot","author":"NCCT","date":"August 6, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"The Department of Homeland Security yesterday issued an alert about a point-of-sale malware that was used in a string of recent attacks by cyber criminals. Dubbed Backoff, the malware has been witnessed on at least three separate forensic investigations since late 2013 and continues to operate today. According to US-CERT,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Security&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Security","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/category\/security\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2939","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2939"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2939\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2939"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2939"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2939"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}