As the ransomware attacks are seen increasingly hitting healthcare organizations across the United States, the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence has issued a ransomware alert to all public and private organizations urging them to focus more on raising their Cybersecurity defense-line against malware attacks.
Just by enabling efficient backups from time to time and in an automated way, most of the victims of ransomware attacks can recover from falling prey to enormous ransom demands says a press release issued by Treasury Department.
According to the statistics issued by FBI, ransomware attacks have jumped to 37% in 2019, yielding 46 million losses to businesses across US.
On citing the example of the recent ransomware incident that took place on Universal Health Services, the federal agency says that the healthcare companies should be extra cautious by taking efficient measures to thwart ransomware attacks.
The Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) has issued an advisory on the current ransomware trends and how to red flag them in prior by informing the law enforcement on time to avoid financial losses.
FinCEN advisory on Ransomware is also discouraging the victims from paying a ransom, as it not only encourages crime to propel more but also guaranties non-return of the decryption key when the ransom is paid in Cryptocurrency.
Note- Nowadays, ransomware spreading gangs like Ryuk, Maze and Sodinokibi are first stealing a portion of data from the database of the victims and then demanding a ransom. As they can yield money for sure by the selling the stolen data on the dark web if, in case the victim refuses to pay a ransom.
Meanwhile, the Cache Creek Casino Resort has also made it official that it has shut down its business since September 20, 2020 due to a file encrypting malware attacks and more details are awaited!
Third, Swiss watch maker Swatch Group has also confirmed the media reports that it was reigning under a malware attack and some of its IT servers were shut down as a precautionary measure to contain the spread of the ransomware.
