Online security has been a hot topic for a few years now, with instances of ransomware, security breaches, and dozens of other forms of cybersecurity breakdowns becoming part of everyday online life. Unfortunately, all this awareness isn’t making things better, as the largest ransomware attack in the history of the world was propagated last week, and it’s going to cost a pretty penny to get all that data back. Since then, the attack has spread like wildfire. According to Kaseya and other cybersecurity experts, the ransomware attack has hit between 800 and 1,500 businesses, with many more likely on the way. Kaseya also stated that the hackers are demanding $70 million in Bitcoin to release the stolen data, which represents one of the largest ransoms demanded from such an attack. One of the reasons the attack is so prevalent is that the hackers targeted firms that run IT services for other businesses. This has created a domino effect of access, allowing the malware to spread quickly and effectively across the world. In fact, the ransomware attack has now spread to 17 different countries. The group even claimed the attack later in the weekend, stating that it had infected more than a million businesses. This claim has not been verified by any other sources, but the scale of the attack is certainly large enough to turn heads. If the name sounds familiar, it should. REvil was most notoriously known for extorting $11 million from meat-processing firm JBS last month, with experts noting the gang’s sophisticated and well-funded attacks posing a serious problem for online security. As for what is specifically being done, companies are being advised to not pay the ransom. Instead, US officials have suggested that businesses should report to the Internet Crime Complaint Center to better coordinate a solution to the largest ransomware attack in the world. The reality is that ransomware remains a serious problem in the online community, and no viable solution has been suggested as of yet. Paying the ransoms have been widely considered a bad idea, but what are businesses to do about all that lost data? Simply put, all you can do is be as safe as possible. Businesses can employ password managers, VPNs, and remote access software to bolster their overall security, but hacker gangs like REvil are getting more and more proficient by the day. At a certain point, a more universal solution is going to have to come into play, and we hope someone comes up with something soon.
