The largest hospital system in New Jersey said it paid an extortion fee to hackers who had disrupted medical facilities with a ransomware attack. A spokesperson for Hackensack Meridian Health, based in Edison, New Jersey said it was working to restore its computer systems following a Dec. 2 ransomware attack that forced administrators to cancel roughly 100 elective medical procedures.

Email encryption is one of the most vital aspects of email security. It is the process of sending emails to a recipient by disguising the content of the message. The idea is to make it harder for third-parties, whom the content is not for, to read the content within the email. Email encryption will often include authentication that the receiver is the intended person to read the content.

Spyware and malware are both considerable threats when it comes to your computer’s security. Whether it’s your home computer used for general surfing, or a whole network of computers used in your business or place of work – when malware or spyware infect, they can cause considerable damage. Spambrella offers a range of malware protection services designed to help protect you from both malware and spyware – but what are they?

What is Dridex malware? Dridex is a strain of banking malware that leverages macros in Microsoft Office to infect systems. Once a computer has been infected, Dridex attackers can steal banking credentials and other personal information on the system to gain access to the financial records of a user.

What is Sextortion? Sextortion is a way of criminally extorting money from a victim or forcing the victim to carry out an act unwillingly. More often than not, the attacker threatens to publicly release embarrassing, personal images or video footage of the victim. Pornographic blackmail is commonly the angle used in sextortion.

Wood Ranch Medical has announced it will be permanently closing its doors as a direct result of a ransomware attack. The devastating attack occurred at Wood Ranch Medical in Simi Valley, CA, which recently announced that the practice will permanently close on December 17, 2019. It is another example of how cyber attacks and specifically Ransomware can bring a business to its knees.

The ransomware attack encrypted the computer systems at Brookside ENT and Hearing Center in Battle Creek which housed patient records, appointment schedules, and payment information rendering the data inaccessible. A ransomware attack can prove costly to resolve. That cost was not deemed worth it by one Michigan practice, which has now permanently closed its doors.

So what is Ransomware? Ransomware is a type of malicious program/application that gains access to your files or systems and blocks user access to those files or systems. Then, all files, or even entire devices, are held hostage using encryption until the victim pays a ransom in exchange for a decryption key. The key allows the user to access the files or systems encrypted by the program.

The potential harm of a malicious URL is so great that they are considered one of the biggest threats to the digital world, especially when we talk about attacks and threats that arrive by email.

Considering we now spend more and more time online, it’s only natural that we’ve digitised almost every aspect of our daily lives. But in doing so, we may have opened ourselves up to a new and dangerous form of attack. Ever since we began using the internet, we have faced the risk of malicious activity. Fortunately, we’ve developed powerful tools to combat cyber-attacks and advanced email security services.