What is Ransomware and How Does It Get On Your System?

What is Ransomware and How Does It Get On Your System?
Ransomware is a hot topic. For those who do not know, ransomware is a malicious software which encrypts data and blocks access to computer systems until a ransom is paid. What is not often discussed is the criminal entity that uses ransomware typically makes a copy of the data that it is encrypted. So even if a company has good backups or refuses to pay the ransom, the data is often still stolen and either released or is for sale on the black market. So if you get infected with ransomware, often there is no winning, just mitigation of losses.


It seems like whenever you turn on the news, another company has announced that they have been hit. Unfortunately, this is just the tip of the iceberg. In order to keep good public relations, often companies do not announce that they have been attacked, so the true number of ransomware attacks is unknown to the general public.

Most commonly ransomware gets on a system by email phishing attacks or brute force attacks against RDP or Remote Desktop Protocol services. In the second quarter of this year, both of these combined accounted for 82% of the ransomware attacks analyzed. Software vulnerabilities round out out the top three with 14% of attacks. While vulnerabilities are a lesser percentage, do not let it fool you, each of these can lead to a difficult situation and a lot of headaches.

The other guys suggest doing things like having multi-factor authentication, to apply software patches, keep up with updates, and train your employees to look out for suspicious emails and activity on their computers. While all of these are good ideas, when faced with the facts of ransomware is this really enough to protect yourself?

AMEOT can help. AMEOT Sentry has been protecting computers since 2012 and in that time, any computer protected with our software has NOT been infected by Ransomware, Malware, Virus or any other malicious entity that does your system harm.

The average ransom today is $136,576. Even if you pay, your data is still stolen. Can you truly afford to not investigate the options available out there?

Call today to find out more information about Sentry and how it can protect your system.


Resources used:

Palmer, Danny. “Ransomware: These Are the Two Most Common Ways Hackers Get inside Your Network.” ZDNet, ZDNet, 29 July 2021, www.zdnet.com/article/ransomware-these-are-the-two-most-common-ways-hackers-get-inside-your-network/.


Siegel, Bill. “Q2 Ransom Payment Amounts Decline as Ransomware Becomes a National Security Priority.” Coveware, Coveware: Ransomware Recovery First Responders, 23 July 2021, www.coveware.com/blog/2021/7/23/q2-ransom-payment-amounts-decline-as-ransomware-becomes-a-national-security-priority.


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