Ransomware Attacks are Still Relevant: Hikvision’s 4 Tips to Keep Your Systems Safe
Ransomware is a type of malicious software designed to block access to a system until money is paid to an illegal organization. It is a diabolical form of malware that is often silently installed on a computer after a user falls for a phishing attack. According to a Security Magazine article, these attacks decreased by 5% in 2022. Their report gave an overview of ransomware attacks worldwide and highlighted global trends.
LockBit had the top spot for more active threat actors responsible for 33% of all monitored ransomware attacks. North America and Europe suffered the most ransomware attacks in 2022, and Europe’s surge in activity is associated with the Russia-Ukraine conflict in the first half of the year. If interested, read the full report here.
Even though ransomware attacks dropped slightly in 2022, the data does not suggest that they are not a threat anymore. They are very much still relevant and cause harm to many people, businesses, and organizations.
Here are four tips to protect yourself from ransomware attacks.
- Put backups in place. The first and most important thing that you can do is back up your devices. Check out the Hikvision article on data backups.
- Make a practice of patching. Patches are updates to a computer program or its data that improve or fix it. By installing patches as soon as they are released (or setting automatic patching whenever available), you can keep your system up to date.
- Employ multi-factor authentication (MFA). Enable MFA where available to better protect your accounts and devices. This also protects against credential stuffing attacks.
- Use a trusted password manager. A password manager is a software tool that is used to store your passwords in an encrypted file. Using a password management tool can help you create strong, unique passwords for every account so that you and no one else have easy access to them, to minimizing security vulnerabilities.
Learn more about ransomware and other cybersecurity insights by visiting Hikvision’s online Cybersecurity Center.