{"id":54156,"date":"2016-08-24T23:55:36","date_gmt":"2016-08-24T23:55:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/?p=54156"},"modified":"2016-08-24T23:55:36","modified_gmt":"2016-08-24T23:55:36","slug":"two-thirds-universities-hit-ransomware","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/two-thirds-universities-hit-ransomware\/","title":{"rendered":"63% of Universities Hit with Ransomware"},"content":{"rendered":"

A new study found that just under two-thirds of universities within the United Kingdom have experienced ransomware attacks…<\/h3>\n

<\/p>\n

The study, conducted by SentinelOne<\/a>, found that 63% of U.K. universities have been the victim of ransomware attacks.\u00a0 There was also additional evidence that many of the universities were hit with ransomware on multiple different occasions.\u00a0 Unfortunately, the tactics the cyber criminals use is a mass distribution approach with the hope that at least one person will fall for it.\u00a0 This approach is not uncommon.<\/p>\n

This approach is believed to be used in most ransomware attacks, as it has been\u00a0proved to be the most effective.\u00a0 Statistically thinking, the more people you distribute to, the higher the likelihood someone will click on your malicious link.\u00a0 So the criminal thinking behind this disbursement method makes sense; however it causes havoc of PC users because we are constantly having to second guess everything we click on.\u00a0 Or at least we should be.<\/p>\n

This study is evidence of the ransomware epidemic, that no one is immune, and just because you’ve been hit once, doesn’t mean it won’t happen again.\u00a0 This is precisely why, when people or institutions are hit with ransomware, they need to following the following steps:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. First and foremost, don’t pay.\u00a0 Paying the ransom demands only fuels the fire to this ransomware epidemic.<\/li>\n
  2. Contact the authorities at both a local and federal level.<\/li>\n
  3. Notify your current security software program so the ransomware can be added to the blacklist.\u00a0 This will prevent further infections of this same ransomware to anyone who is using a security software that uses a blacklist approach.<\/li>\n
  4. Reevaluate your security software protection.\u00a0 The reality is, it has just failed you.\u00a0 You need to find a better security software that implements application whitelisting technology.<\/a>\u00a0 This technology only allows safe programs to run and blocks all unwanted, unknown, and unsafe programs from executing.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    A new study found that just under two-thirds of universities within the United Kingdom have experienced ransomware attacks…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":54,"featured_media":53359,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center 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