Blue Ridge Technology

Most ransomware victims would pay up if attacked again If you read much in the news — or in tech news specifically — it’s easy to grow a little numb to the constant reporting of digital threats and attacks on businesses. This is especially true if your business has yet to face a cyberattack: your policies and practices have gotten you by so far, so they must be good enough … right? The truth is, ransomware attacks are a threat, one that businesses like yours must take seriously now, not once you’ve already been attacked. How Ransomware Attacks Work Ransomware attacks can start like any other digital threat. Bad actors could go on a phishing expedition and steal the credentials of an unwitting employee. (We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again: two-factor or multifactor authentication eliminates the vast majority of phishing threats.) Or threat actors could identify a vulnerability in your system through more sophisticated computer wizardry. Whatever way the bad guys find a way i...

Five Strategies for How to Spot a Phishing Email In last week’s blog post, we talked about the rise of the phishing email, now one of the most common methods of digital attacks. We showed you how dangerous these emails can be, and what to do if you think you’ve fallen for one. What Are Phishing Emails, Again? As a reminder, phishing emails are fraudulent messages that usually appear to be from some well-known, legitimate company or authority (like the IRS). But they actually come from scammers trying to steal account information and other personal data. If a user clicks a link in a phishing email and tries to log into the (fake) page, the scammers immediately get access to whatever the user typed (usually a username and password). While it’s good to know about phishing emails, the real trick is to be able to recognize phishing emails in the first place. If employees know the email’s a phony, they should know to delete it, not click through. So, with that in mind, here are our top tips ...