“Ransomware: No Honor Among Thieves and More Expensive” by Sensei’s Sharon Nelson and John Simek was featured in the Winter 2017 Newsletter of the Northern Virginia Association of Legal Administrators (NOVA ALA). The NOVA ALA, chartered in 1980, is composed of legal professionals and is affiliated with the National Association of Legal Administrators, a non-profit organization with over 10,000 members worldwide. The goal of the Association of Legal Administrators is to improve the quality of management in legal service organizations; promote and enhance the competence of professionalism of legal administrators; and represent professional legal management and managers to the legal community and the community at large.
Excerpt: The FBI says that ransomware nets cybercriminals $1 billion a year. No wonder so many people want a piece of that pie.
Computerworld recently reported that hackers spreading ransomware are getting greedier. In 2016, the average ransom demand to provide the decryption key for encrypted data rose to $1,077, up from $294 the year before, according to a report from security firm Symantec. Symantec also reported a 36% increase in ransomware in 2016 from the prior year. We are aware of small law firms in Virginia that paid $1200 and $3000 to get their data back – the damage being furthered by the length of time it took to restore the data.
Helping to fuel the ransomware boom is the digital black market, where hackers can sell ransomware kits for as little as $10 and as much as $1,800, making it easier for other cybercriminals who can't code to get a piece of the action.
See the entire newsletter here. (Sensei article on page 10)
