Insights for CISOs: Ransomware

Ransomware has evolved into a top security concern for organizations, and the escalating number of attacks have validated the harmful impact this type of malware can cause across numerous sectors and industries. Cyber-attacks involving ransomware were originally viewed as a novelty that creative criminals came up with, but this type of malware attack has grown into an immense criminal enterprise with significant economic and financial implications. While ransomware is not a new issue, it is now a more prevalent, sophisticated, and damaging concern to a variety of organizations and critical infrastructure entities with a fear factor that it could cost millions of dollars to regain control of data. A rehashed phenomenon with greater defense challenges, ransomware is now used as a digital terrorism tactic, and has been declared a national security issue by the National Security Agency (NSA) in the United States.

A ransomware attack not only impacts an organization’s information technology (IT) systems, but also negatively impacts an organization in several detrimental ways, to include:

--Financial implications
--Exfiltrated data
--Stolen intellectual property
--Potential of severe long-term operational challenges

Security officers have an obligation to recognize and understand the depth of continual new ransomware threats and challenges, and posture themselves to strengthen defenses across their organization to validate security as a critical component to their business strategy. As part of the research for this insight, Frost & Sullivan spoke with leading cybersecurity experts including Accenture, BlackBerry, Critical Insight, Nozomi Networks, Nuspire, and Semperis to examine different views relating to ransomware and the associated security challenges.

Author: Sarah Pavlak