As cybercriminals continue to evolve, cybercrime becomes more relentless and devastating, year after year. In fact, cybercrime costs businesses in the US in excess of $100 billion each year! While cybercrimes use a wide range of tactics, there’s one specific tactic that’s becoming more popular than ever before: stealing and encrypting business data.

When a cybercriminal steals and encrypts business data, the target must pay a ransom fee for the decryption key. As you’re already aware, business data is fundamental to day-to-day business operations; and as a result, most business owners simply pay the fee.

Cryptolocker Strikes Hundreds of Thousands of Computers Around the World – One Victim Being a Dental Practice That Couldn’t Afford to Lose Their Patients’ Data!

In 2013, a ransomware, commonly known as Cryptolocker, started making the rounds, infecting hundreds of thousands of computers and racking up millions of dollars in damages. A recent victim, a dental practice, couldn’t afford to lose their patients’ data.

When an unsuspecting employee fell for a phishing scheme that resulted in the encryption of nearly 1 TB of data, including patient charts, X-rays, and other important records, they were fortunate enough to restore their data without paying the ransom fee!

How Did the Dental Office Restore Their Data Without Paying the Ransom Fee? A Reliable Cloud-Based Data Protection Solution Kept Their Patient Data Safe!

As soon as the dental practice realized the issue, they were able to start a full data restore using their cloud-based data protection solution, and avoid paying the ransom fee! Over the course of a day:

• The virus had been wiped off the network.
• Their business applications were running.
• Their patient data was accessible again.

Data protection, especially in the healthcare industry, is essential for those subject to stringent regulations in terms of data storage and security. While cybercriminals continue to find new ways to break into networks and steal data, it’s absolutely critical to have a recovery plan in place.

ECW Computers offer cloud-based data protection solutions – and we have a strong track record for helping businesses recover from cyber attacks. Keep in mind; data loss has forced many businesses to close their doors! Our military-grade services, supported through dual-coast SSAE-16 compliant data centers, offer faster backups and restores. To learn more, give us a call at {phone} or send us an email at {email}.