Today's business owners have many things to be concerned about when it comes to their day-to-day operations. They might have never thought that they could be targeted for extortion. This is a trend that is becoming increasingly popular. It is occurring through cyber attacks, and many business owners are not prepared for these attacks. Some businesses have IT departments or one IT employee who handles everything. Unfortunately, most of these employees do not have the skill set to defend against extortion attempts. The following points identify ways that cybercriminals attempt to extort businesses.
Virus Attacks
Some individuals think that viruses are secretly and maliciously spread. However, cybercriminals may use virus threats against businesses. This type of criminal activity usually involves the cybercriminal contacting a business and threatening to release a virus if they do not pay them a sum of money. Sometimes criminals do not seek money. They might make other demands. It is important to note that some cybercriminals do their crimes alone, but there are also criminal enterprises that have several individuals who harass businesses.
Ransomware
This is a type of virus that criminals can use to infect one device or a whole network. The virus encrypts company data, and the cybercriminals make demands to receive money or something else in order for the victim (business) to regain access to their files. Another approach to this scheme is to make demands and threaten to sell or expose the files if the demands are not met. Unfortunately, many businesses are eager to meet the demands of cybercriminals during a ransomware attack because they need to regain access to certain data to continue operations. Not being able to access certain data and perform certain duties means a loss of income for them.
Data Breaches
Cybercriminals may extract data after a ransomware attack. This may include sensitive data about clients. The extortion attempt may include threats to share or sell information extracted from the encrypted files. For some companies, this can cost millions of dollars in restitution to clients. The amount of money demanded by cybercriminals can be astronomical. It may depend on the size of the business and how sensitive the information is.
An extortion consultant is a good resource to use to learn more about cyber attacks and extorsions. It is important to keep in mind that cyber extortion attempts may attack businesses of all sizes. Consultants have the expertise to help businesses understand and get through attacks. It is best to get protection before an attack occurs.
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