Ransomware. Five years ago, the cybersecurity community knew that term well, although among others it was far from dinner table conversation. Times have changed. Since early 2020, ransomware has hit a slew of headlines. People inside and outside of the security industry are talking about it, and many have experienced the ransomware pain firsthand.
The IBM Security 2021 Cost of a Data Breach report notes that ransomware attacks cost on average $4.62 million, excluding the cost of paying the ransom. The loss could cripple a company, to the point of shutting it down. And companies aren’t the only victims. In 2021 alone, an uptick in ransomware attacks has disrupted consumers’ basic needs from oil pipelines to the food supply chain.
The United States Federal Government has taken notice. The House of Representatives has passed five pieces of legislation addressing cybersecurity around critical systems. The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) recently released a new security directive for pipeline operators. An additional response was announced in May 2021 by U.S. President Joe Biden. The “Executive Order on Improving the Nation’s Cybersecurity” (a.k.a. EO 14028) asks federal agencies to create new requirements designed to strengthen their security programs. These requirements are still being determined, but they range from implementing a zero trust architecture to modernizing cybersecurity programs to developing a cloud security strategy.
Section four piqued our X-Force team’s interest t ..
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