Even though we have solutions to years-old attack methods, many organizations still haven’t upgraded their systems to handle them.
“The problem is that people are still trusting and they click on things,” noted Kelly Jackson Higgins, Executive Editor of Dark Reading, in our conversation at the 2017 RSA Conference in San Francisco.
Watch the full interview here:
VIDEO: Cylance Interviews Kelly Jackson Higgins
Although ransomware is coming into its own today, many of the techniques used are not that new nor complicated. Ransomware has become popular because it’s easy, automated, and doesn’t require technical knowledge to set an exploit. You can actually purchase a kit to launch your own ransomware attack. Simply put, attackers are still spinning the hits. They’re creating exploits with simple phishing attacks, which also can be launched by simply purchasing a kit.
Protecting yourself from ransomware attacks means having good security practices and most notably having offline data backups, allowing you to roll back to a specific date should your online backups get compromised.
“These guys aren’t using any rocket science zero-days’ to do what they’re doing,” says Higgins. “They’re just going in to basic unpatched old systems that have easy vulnerabilities that should have been patched. When you see the data of what’s getting in and what’s happening it’s kind of the same stuff. You’ll see old well-known bugs that have patches that are getting used because people aren’t keeping their systems up to date.”
About Kelly Jackson Higgins
Kelly Jackson Higgins is Executive Editor at DarkReading.com. She is an award-winning veteran technology and business journalist with over two decades of experience in reporting and editing for various publications, including Network Computing, Secure Enterprise Magazine, CommunicationsWeek, Virginia Business magazine, and other major media properties. Jackson Higgins was recently selected as one of the Top 10 Cybersecurity Journalists in the US. Follow her on Twitter at @kjhiggins.
About the Author
David Spark is a veteran tech journalist and founder of Spark Media Solutions. Since 1996, Spark and his articles have appeared in more than 40 media outlets including eWEEK, Wired News, PCWorld, ABC Radio, John C. Dvorak’s “Cranky Geeks,” KQED’s “This Week in Northern California,” and TechTV (formerly ZDTV). Spark is also the author of the book, “Three Feet from Seven Figures: One-on-One Engagement Techniques to Qualify More Leads at Trade Shows.” Today, Spark blogs regularly on the Spark Minute and is a regular contributor for Forbes. Spark is a noted speaker, entertainer, and moderator at tech and marketing events.
