News has broken that Acer has been hit with a $50 million ransomware attack. This follows reports of the continued increase in ransomware attacks over the twelve months, according to a report in Digital Journal.
It appears that the attack came from the REvil (Sodinokibi) ransomware gang. The rogue group reportedly breached Acer and shared some images of allegedly stolen files as proof on its website towards the end of March 2021.
Ransomware attacks remain a critical issue for all businesses, and cybercriminals are only upping the stakes with current demands. This is why companies like Acer are in the frontline for such incidences.
Ransomware is a type of malware that threatens to publish the victim’s data or perpetually block access to it unless a ransom is paid. This class of malware is a criminal moneymaking scheme that can be installed through deceptive links in an email message, instant message or website.
Typically high-performing organizations, or at least organizations perceived to be wealthy, are targeting by increasingly sophisticated malicious outfits.
Commenting on this latest incident for Digital Journal, Apoorv Agarwal, co-founder and CEO at Text IQ, explains: “Ransomware attacks are problematic for any business storing personal information, but large companies like Acer are frequently targeted by cybercriminals due to their large customer base and revenue size.”
However, organizations should not passively sit by an enable ransomware attacks to happen, says Agarwal. His proposition: “Companies can proactively protect themselves from potential ransomware attacks by better understanding the sensitive data they are storing and investing in technologies to automate the process of determining whose data has been breached.”
Remediation measures include: “Investing in secure automation platforms that accurately identify sensitive information using AI may be the only feasible way for these institutions to enable response teams to make quicker, more informed and more accurate decisions on who to notify based on applicable regulations.”
Agarwal concludes by pointing out that artificial intelligence and machine learning can provide a reimagined approach to addressing vulnerabilities relating to unstructured data.
