Extortion. Ransom. International crime syndicates. No, this isn't a description of the latest Daniel Silva thriller. For many, however, it could be the start of a very bad day at the office. Or, as author Judith Viorst might call it, a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. Unless, that is, you have a virus backup plan in place beforehand (and not just any virus backup plan, but a very good one).
What happens to turn an average day into a bad one? It all begins with clicking on a corrupt email link or ZIP file attachment: Someone in your organization has just taken the bait of a ransomware phishing campaign. Ransomware goes by a number of names and methods: Cryptolocker and CryptoWall are early, effective versions. Today, you have Locky and Bart. Whatever the strain, ransomware is designed to infect your system, encrypt your files and spread itself to other systems on the network. In order to unencrypt the files, you are often required to pay a digital Bitcoin ransom to the perpetrator.
Not on My Watch!
Are you under the impression that this can't happen to you and your organization? After all, you keep users' systems updated with the latest patches, and you pursue ongoing education and training to keep employees from falling for this kind of email ruse. You even segment network traffic to keep a potential virus from running amok.
Unfortunately, despite these best efforts, your organization may still be at risk. In Verizon's 2016 Data Breach Investigations Report, the company analyzed more than eight million results from various vendors' sanctioned phishing tests in 2015. Verizon found that an average of 30% of all phishing messages had been opened by the targeted individual. Furthermore, 12% of targets went on to click the accompanying attachment or link. In a real-world scenario, this action would have launched an attack.
When Prevention Turns to Disaster Recovery
What do you do if as much as 12% of your users are likely to succumb to ransomware's lure at any given time?
While you can easily pay the ransom, law enforcement and IT security companies don't usually recommend that you take this action. Instead, organizations like The No More Ransom Project place backup at the top of their list of recommended actions to minimize ransomware's fallout. Sure, almost every organization performs some type of backup. But what separates routine backups from those that make a really bad day more bearable? It's all about how well you recover.
Once ransomware takes hold of one computer or many, IT's job becomes one of disaster recovery. Here, the plan should include tiers of data protection and recovery based on how soon certain systems and data need to be back online following a disaster. This type of plan may involve replication, snapshots and backup to the cloud, as well as tape or disk backups that are physically removed from the network.
Why not be prepared before a ransomware attack strikes? It's time for you to work out the details of your own disaster recovery or backup plan.
Most recent headlines
18/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
18/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
18/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
18/12/2025
Long-term agreement includes the SES SCORE platform and hybrid distribution worldwide to deliver more than 5,000 hours of golf tournaments annually featuring th...
17/12/2025
Investigative journalists across the Western Balkans and T rkiye continue to con...
17/12/2025
Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame Inducts 10 Industry Icons During Unforgettable ...
17/12/2025
ESPN to Debut MNF Playbook with Next Gen Stats, a New AI-Driven NFL Data-AltCastThe series, powered by Adrenaline TruPlay AI, launches Dec. 22 and runs through ...
17/12/2025
Inaugural Optum Golf Channel Games Debut Under the Lights' in Primetime on ...
17/12/2025
The right playlist is essential on New Year's Eve, building the energy as you get ready and keeping it high as you count down to midnight. This year, Spotif...
17/12/2025
eds3_5_jq(document).ready(function($) { $(#eds_sliderM519).chameleonSlider_2_1({...
17/12/2025
Audiences Watched Over 103 Billion Minutes of TV on Thanksgiving Day
NFL Games ...
17/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
17/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
17/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
17/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
17/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
17/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
17/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
17/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
17/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
17/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
17/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
17/12/2025
KPop Demon Hunters Stars Visit Berklee for Weeklong Celebration Andrew Choi and EJAE, who voiced the film's main characters and contributed to its soundtr...
17/12/2025
December 17 2025, 17:00 (PST) Dolby and LG Unveil a New Era of Home Audio With ...
17/12/2025
Wednesday 17 December 2025
Heated Rivalry will be coming to Sky and streaming service NOW on 10 JanuaryTurn on cookies to view this content. Go to Privacy opti...
17/12/2025
Back to All News
Inside The Unseen World Of Indian Customs: Netflix Reveals The...
17/12/2025
Back to All News
Netflix announces PAPARAZZI KING: the docu series coming to Ne...
17/12/2025
Back to All News
Netflix Unveils First Look at Jo Nesbo's Detective Hole Pr...
17/12/2025
Back to All News
Netflix Welcomes Warner Bros. Discovery Board Recommendation
Business
17 December 2025
Global
Link copied to clipboard
After Careful Revi...
17/12/2025
RT has announced that Kathy Fox has been appointed Commissioning Editor with re...
17/12/2025
The Hao AI Lab research team at the University of California San Diego - at the forefront of pioneering AI model innovation - recently received an NVIDIA DGX B...
17/12/2025
Editor's note: This post is part of Into the Omniverse, a series focused on ...
17/12/2025
With the new season of Dancing with the Stars shimmering in the not-too-distant future this New Year, the celebrity and dancer pairings of the twelve couples ha...
16/12/2025
Hawkins has landed on Spotify, just in time for Stranger Things Season 5, Volume...
16/12/2025
Wherever you are, your favorite music and audio content should go seamlessly with you. That's why Spotify has partnered with NAVER Corp, Korea's leading...
16/12/2025
2025 Wrapped arrived bigger and bolder than ever. This year's experience is designed to be ultra personal and shareable, with new features like Wrapped Part...
16/12/2025
Three 12-kilowatt Advanced Electric Propulsion System thrusters, supplied by L3Harris Technologies, form the core of Gateway's propulsion system. Pictured i...
16/12/2025
The challenge facing America's defense industrial base is not just about speed - its about rebuilding the foundation that makes speed possible. Our nations ...
16/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
16/12/2025
SEVILLE, Spain Canal Sur, the public broadcasting service for Andalusia, Spain, has completed a total technology refresh based on Pebble's resilient, softwa...
16/12/2025
NEW YORK Teleprompting hardware provider Telescript International has acquired all software code and intellectual property previously owned by Telescript West. ...
16/12/2025
As cable operators face increased competition from 5G fixed wireless access providers, a new report from Ookla Research finds that T-Mobile is the FWA speed lea...
16/12/2025
Apple has announced a major upgrade to the Apple TV app for device owners outside the Apple ecosystem with news that the Apple TV app for Android now supports G...
16/12/2025
Space42 grows Direct-to-Device partner ecosystem through a Memorandum of Underst...
16/12/2025
16 Dec 2025
VEON Announces Release Date for Full Year and Fourth Quarter 2025 R...
16/12/2025
16 Dec 2025
VEON's Kyivstar Invests in Renewable Energy in Ukraine with Acq...
16/12/2025
Back to All News
Emma Appleton, Fares Fares, Frida Gustavsson and Jakob Oftebro...
16/12/2025
Back to All News
Docu-reality My Korean Boyfriend Gets a Trailer and Premiere D...
16/12/2025
Harmonic's XOS Advanced Media Processor Improves Streaming Video Quality and Boosts Viewer Engagement SAN JOSE, Calif. - Dec. 16, 2025 - Harmonic (NASDAQ: ...
Extortion. Ransom. International crime syndicates. No, this isn't a description of the latest Daniel Silva thriller. For many, however, it could be the start of a very bad day at the office. Or, as author Judith Viorst might call it, a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. Unless, that is, you have a virus backup plan in place beforehand (and not just any virus backup plan, but a very good one).
