Ransomware and Other Critical Infrastructure Cyber Threats
- March 31, 2023
- Canary Trap
One of the most devastating cyber threats today is ransomware. It has been affecting businesses and individuals all over the world for years, but it has certainly increased during the last couple of years.
Ransomware is a form of malware that infects networks and devices, encrypts data and demands payment in exchange for a decryption key. Victims may be at risk of losing data, money, productivity and modifications on their networks.
These types of attacks are particularly dangerous because they can quickly spread throughout an organization, and not only impact the immediate target, but also threaten national security and critical infrastructure, and enable other malicious activities to take place.
Major attacks around the world serve as a warning of the damaging consequences they can carry. For example, the Colonial Pipeline attack in the United States disrupted the fuel supply and caused gas shortages, and over in Canada, the city of Timmins, Ontario fell victim to a ransomware attack that resulted in shutdown of critical services, such as online payments, email and phone systems.
The aftermath of these attacks only highlights the need to increase our cybersecurity knowledge and efforts to implement strong security measures, have incident response plans in place, and count with the help of experts that can help you stay “ahead of the game”.
