An Ohio senator says all U.S. businesses need to protect themselves from ransomware attacks. Senator Rob Portman, chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, published a report this past week on the problem of ransomware attacks. The report says that no matter the size or sophistication of the company; they are in danger of these attacks. The ransomware gangs will use phishing tactics to gain access to networks and encrypt its data until the ransom is paid and then the gang will release the data.
“One of the things that we found out in our investigation is that many of these are not reported,” says Portman. “So that’s why we passed legislation that got signed into law last week that says, OK if you have critical infrastructure in this country you have to report these attacks. We got to get the information into the FBI, so we can help you to be able to defend against it. But also so we can go on the offense.”
Portman says sharing information to the FBI and other agencies about attacks can protect other companies in your area.
“It’s really important to get the information out there, because lets say that you have an attack on a midsize company in Lima Ohio, lets say it’s in the financial sector as an example. It tends to be a pattern, so you would want another company in Lima to know about that, another situated company so they can protect themselves better. Right now we don’t have that information flow, other countries have that, that would be helpful.”
The report outlines some things that companies can do to help protect themselves during an attack, including having an offline backup of your data, and having a cyber incident response plant in place to help companies move quickly if they are hit with ransomware.
