Cisco’s holistic approach to cyber security solutions

With the world becoming more digitised there is a need for fresh thinking towards cyber security and solutions

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Cisco’s holistic approach to cyber security solutions

Published: 12:00pm, 26 Oct 2016Updated: 3:42pm, 26 Oct 2016

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Imagine that after a coffee in the morning you return to your office, feeling fresh and prepared to start the day. After switching on your computer you realise that there is something odd and that it is unbootable. You cannot access any file on your computer - no documents, no images, and no audio files. Instead of your familiar screen that greets you every time you switch on your computer, there is a blinking note that demands payment of a ransom in order to restore the operation of the computer. This is ransomware at work.

The scenario may be horrifying to most unprepared individuals, but the incidents of ransomware are on the rise. According to the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), ransomware will be a US$1 billion market this year.

More worrying still is the trend that ransomware is evolving and becoming more pervasive as well as more difficult to deal with. If you think ordinary ransomware is bad for an individual computer, wait until you come to terms with ransomware that targets an entire computer network and architecture. Watch the below video to see how an effective ransomware attack comes together.

Releasing key findings taken from threat intelligence and the latest cybersecurity trends, the Cisco 2016 Midyear Cybersecurity Report shows some threat actors, or malicious actors, are now targeting network and server-side vulnerabilities. This is referred to as ransomware 2.0 by some cyber security specialists.

For an organisation, the time and resources required to unlock a system and contain the damage will be much higher if architecture is infected. If any file is not properly backed up, everything that is treasured in the affected company or organisation will be compromised including all kinds of data, trade secrets, and customers’ personal information. If it happens to a healthcare organisation, this attack can result in a more widespread implication in people’s health and well-being. As a result, the damage caused by today’s ransomware can be beyond financial terms.