Not Going Away

Recently, I saw a headline about ransomware attacks and thought that I had not heard about them in a while. Then I got into the article, discovered that 2023 had the highest amount of ransomware payments ever (over $1 billion) and then started to wonder why I hadn’t heard about them in a while. And the only answer I can come up with is that it has become so commonplace that it isn’t newsworthy anymore for it no longer captures eyes and attention.

From there, it only stands to reason that online security as a whole is probably suffering the same point. At this point, security software is probably ubiquitous enough that everyone has installed something at some time, but if news of scammers and criminals barely register anymore, are we giving it enough thought? Do we even know things such as:

• Is your security subscription still active?
• Is your security subscription updated to the latest version?
• Have you installed security software on all new devices?

Another interesting point is that ransomware saw a big dip in 2022, with the total amount received by attackers dropping to $567 million after being at $983 million in 2021. The jump last year, though, says that drop looks to be more an aberration than a trend. And really, even if only half a billion dollars is out there to be had, that’s enough for bad actors to keep working on getting it. We can see some of the same type of conversations surrounding gift card scams now, they’re everywhere, people are growing ever more aware of them, but they’re not stopping.

So let this just be a warning to keep on top of your security and don’t let it just fade to the back of your mind. It does not need to be front of the mind all the time, but it cannot be forgotten. Even as scammers are becoming ever more ubiquitous, our security systems need to match that.

Warmly,

Josh Bousquet
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