Andrew Agencies, a Manitoba based insurance company, was hit with a ransomware attack that encrypted 245 of the company’s computers. The hackers threatened to expose stolen data if a ransom wasn’t paid, however, deadlines have been pushed back as Andrew Agencies has been refusing to pay since the discovery of the attack in October. Thus far, no data has been compromised or exposed but 876 customers could be impacted.
Ransomware continues to threaten SMBs on a daily basis. The importance of pre-planning and prevention are magnified when downtime costs are incurred. The scenario can quickly get out of hand when things turn from a file encryption to a full on data breach. In scenarios when backups are in place and business can continue, the business risk is mitigated and remediation can quickly shift focus to containment, but when companies are unprepared without proper planning, a data breach and its associated costs can be devastating.