Late at night my phone rings. Of course, just while I wanted to relax with a good glass of wine. A Montepulciano, one of my favorites. You understand, the temptation not to speak to the caller was great.
But in our work, the bells in the evening are notorious. They often mean customers with problems. And that’s what we’re here for, isn’t it? The same now. I answer and hear panic. ‘I can no longer access our files Corné, the client files have become unreadable. A disaster!’ I’m shocked, this is clearly about ransomware. Taking computer files and data hostage in exchange for ‘ransom’. Although we of course perform our backups rigorously, the opponent is also becoming increasingly sneaky. Cybercriminals are the threat in this digital era. DDoS attacks that shut down organizations and companies, ransomware that prevents organizations and companies from accessing their own data. Criminals threaten that only if payment is made, the user will regain access to their own data. Not to mention CEO fraud or invoice fraud, where companies sometimes pay millions to a criminal who pretends to be a supplier, for example. Due to ‘the internet of things’, where even the vacuum cleaner is controlled via the mobile phone, more and more potential vulnerabilities can be found at home and at work.
‘During the corona crisis, the number of cyber attacks has increased explosively. Yet companies estimate the risk of cybercrime to be much lower than before the crisis.’
This follows from research by ABN Amro. The number of cases in which cybercrime played a role increased by 127 percent in 2020 compared to the previous year, the Public Prosecution Service previously announced. Yet in April 2021, only 34 percent of companies in the Netherlands saw cybercrime as a major risk to their own organization, ABN Amro concludes.
Good security of digital systems is important to prevent cybercrime, but insurance for the consequences of cybercrime is also advisable. Sometimes companies still have to pay the ransom, but this is not the case, as there is often no escape from the ICT partner declaring hours and/or costs incurred. Securing data, restoring backups and other actions are an operation in itself.
At Digital Hub we guide companies to the best security with an extra backup: our trusted insurance partner. It is possible and desirable for companies, governments and institutions to take out cybercrime insurance. Want to know more? Feel free to call me, even late at night.
What happened to our affected customer? Fortunately, we were able to help him quickly thanks to the preventive measures that our Digital Hub team had taken.
The not bad man from Liberia, who offered to solve his problem in exchange for crypto coins, is probably looking for a new victim. Therefore, be warned and prepared!