Thomas Brown of The Brown Firm in Florida was yet another victim of a ransomware attack which encrypted his data, leaving him out of business and without access to his data. The cybercriminals demanded $2500 in bitcoin for the decryption key. The firm said that they had to pay up or lose all their data so they paid up – and got the decryption key.

Since the incident, the firm has improved computer firewalls and replaced passwords with passphrases that are regularly changed, according to the articlein the Jacksonville Daily Record. The firm has also installed an isolated server that is used to back up files each day.

The average price to get a decryption key used to be $300-$500 – looks like the price tag is on the rise. It might be a whole lot cheaper to make sure your backup is impervious to ransomware so you can tell those who want you to pay a ransom to pound sand.

This was originally posted on Ride the Lightening. 

E-mail: snelson@senseient.com Phone: 703-359-0700
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