Ransomware has been a very big problem for many years now. Despite numerous incidents in 2019, it is unlikely that the threat will diminish in the years to come.
Through 2019, the number of ransomware attacks has been rather impressive, for all the wrong reasons.
Ransomware Problems Remain Ever-present
One remarkable trend is how most of these attacks focus on cities and their infrastructure, rather than consumers and corporations.
Over 70 state and local governments were affected by ransomware this year alone.
One has to keep in mind the year 2019 is not over yet, thus these figures may still change.
Other high-value targets include hospitals and universities, locations that need an active computer network to operate at full capacity.
It is a well-known fact that most government organizations have little to no means of dealing with malware attacks.
This is primarily due to budgetary reason, or an overall lackluster IT management policy.
Additionally, there is the financial angle associated with a successful malware attack.
Even though they should know better, government organizations are more willing to meet the malware distributors’ demands and pay a fee to restore their systems.
Criminals know all too well that this makes them very easy targets ripe for the picking.
The bigger problem is determining how this situation will evolve in the years to come.
It seems likely to assume that even more government organizations will fall victim to ransomware attacks unless they step up their game in a prominent manner.
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