Get Cybersecurity Smart with Carbonite | Online

About this event

To pay, or not to pay: the hottest question right now in cybersecurity revolves around that conundrum and relates to ransomware, the malware that holds files hostage and rakes in payment from unsuspecting victims. Recent data from a source who remains anonymous suggest that criminals distributing ransomware in 2016 raked in an astounding $1 billion dollars in extortion funds. This success, coupled with the diversity of victims – from individual consumers, to entire corporations’ C-suites – makes one thing certain: everybody is vulnerable to ransomware attack.

While security technologies continue to improve, the fact remains that the malware is escalating in sophistication at a faster rate than we can defend against it, forcing many unsuspecting victims to cough up large sums of money at a time. There are a few issues unique to ransomware that are exacerbating its spread. The first is that its distributors can effectively remain anonymous thanks to Bitcoin, the digital currency based on Blockchain, which leaves no traces of making or receiving payments. As a result, law enforcement has a near impossible task of identifying and penalizing criminals. Organized crime unit or teenager in his grandmother’s basement? There’s really no way of knowing yet.

There is another huge hurdle for law enforcement: the fact that many ransomware victims do not report the attacks. Why? New data from Carbonite and The Ponemon Institute reveals that fear of publicity stops companies from reporting incidents to law enforcement. Despite the FBI’s pleas to report the incident to law enforcement, 49 percent of respondents – IT professionals in midsize organizations – say their company did not report the ransomware attack to avoid negative PR.

But it’s not all doom and gloom: a change in behavior, as well as adoption of the right technologies, can help ensure that both our personal and professional data will never be taken for ransom.

In this meeting of the minds, experts across the security discipline will gather to have a lively discussion on the state of ransomware today and will answer the most pressing questions facing the epidemic today, including:

• What is ransomware and where did it come from?
  
• Why is it so successful?
  
• Who is it targeting?
  
• How can I identify it and stop it in its tracks?
  
• When will it ever go away?