And it\u2019s growing.<\/p>\n
Ransomware is attacking our hospitals<\/a>; our libraries,<\/a> and our financial institutions<\/a>. It\u2019s attacking our trendy new connected cars<\/a>. As ESET\u2019s Stephen Cobb envisions, what if it sets its sights on Internet of Things (IoT) devices?<\/p>\n Fortunately, the experts are on our side. Here, we\u2019ve rounded up key advice and insight they have provided within the last year.<\/p>\n Stephen Cobb, senior security researcher at ESET<\/b><\/p>\n Golden rule: Don\u2019t put anything on the internet you wouldn\u2019t want your mother to see<\/a>.<\/p>\n Cobb warns of the impact of a yet unknown concept. His concern is that \u201cmalicious software that seeks to take control of a device<\/a>\u201d \u2013 or \u201cjackware\u201d, as he calls it \u2013 may infiltrate 2017.<\/p>\n During midwinter in 2016 in Finland, where temperatures were below freezing, cybercriminals were able to take control and halt the heating of two buildings<\/a> during a distributed denial of service attack. Could these attacks become commonplace as the IoT continues to flourish?<\/p>\n Cobb believes there needs to be a collective international effort made, on both a technical and political level, to stop the IoT giving way to the RoT. \u201cTraditional security techniques like filtering, encrypting, and authenticating can consume costly processing power and bandwidth,\u201d he points out. \u201cThere has been a collective international failure to prevent a thriving criminal infrastructure evolving in cyberspace.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMore than 40% of American adults remain unconvinced that IoT devices are safe.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n The good news is we\u2019re not falling for anything we\u2019re not sure about. Cobb cites a report from a survey<\/a> showing that more than 40% of American adults remain unconvinced that IoT devices are safe.<\/p>\n He questions: \u201cCould the combination of consumer sentiment and government guidance lead companies to make the IoT more resistant to abuse?\u201d<\/p>\n David Harley, senior research fellow at ESET<\/b><\/p>\n Golden rule: Scepticism is a survival trait: don\u2019t assume that anything you read online is gospel truth, even in this adage<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you give in and pay the ransom, you\u2019ve directly contributed to the wellbeing of criminality \u2026 And there\u2019s unlikely to be a money-back guarantee.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n To pay (cybercriminals demanding a bitcoin ransom), or not to pay, that is the question.<\/p>\n Such is the current state of the modern world.<\/p>\n On the morality of paying a ransom to cybercriminals who\u2019ve attacked your system and encrypted your data, there\u2019s a multitude of opinions around. \u201cThere\u2019s an undeniable argument that if you give in and pay the ransom, you\u2019ve directly contributed to the wellbeing of criminality,\u201d concedes<\/a> David Harley. \u201cAnd there\u2019s unlikely to be a money-back guarantee.\u201d<\/p>\n However, he recognizes that often it\u2019s not that straightforward: \u201cIn many cases, it\u2019s cheaper to pay up than lose the data \u2026 Maybe the damage is so severe that you go out of business. You can\u2019t blame companies if they decide to pay up rather than commit financial suicide.<\/p>\n \u201cIt might be seen as being more responsible to pay up rather than destroy the livelihoods of all staff.\u201d<\/p>\n His own personal advice is that \u201cprevention (and backup) is worth a ton of Bitcoins\u201d.<\/p>\n Whatever your stance on the issue, the solution remains to follow the advice of experts such as Harley himself, and Lysa Myers.<\/p>\n Lysa Myers, <\/b>security researcher at ESET <\/b><\/p>\n Golden rule: An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you have properly prepared your system,\u201d says<\/a> Myers, \u201c[ransomware] is really nothing more than a nuisance.\u201d<\/p>\n We have selected five precautions she advises taking, by means of the aforementioned prevention.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you have properly prepared your system, ransomware is really nothing more than a nuisance.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n 1. Back up your data \u2013 on an external drive that is disconnected from your devices and network when not in use<\/i><\/b><\/p>\nRoT: Ransomware of Things<\/b><\/h2>\n
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<\/p>\nRansomware: should you pay up?<\/b><\/h2>\n
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<\/p>\nWhat can you do about ransomware?<\/b><\/h2>\n