During 2013, the number of attacks each month rose from 100,000 in January to 600,000 in December, according to a 2014 report by Symantec, the maker of antivirus software.
A report from Intel Corp.’s McAfee Labs released in November said the number of ransom ware attacks is expected to grow even more in 2016 because of increased sophistication in the software used to do it. The company estimates that on average, 3 percent of users with infected machines pay a ransom. It’s not clear how many of those users were individuals and how many companies. Some ransom ware attacks go unreported because the victims don’t want it publicized they were hacked.
The most recent victim is a Los Angeles hospital that paid nearly $17,000 in bitcoins to hackers who infiltrated and disabled its network.
This is a risk that every business can no longer ignore or take belief that it will never happen to them.
What is your plan? Could your company afford the loss time, loss production, loss of revenue, ransom payments, etc?
(source: http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2016/02/18/los-angeles-hospital-paid-17g-ransom-to-hackers-who-disabled-computer-network.html)
The Advisor 