On average in Q1 of 2019, 504 new cybersecurity threats were appearing every minute.

504 new threats per minute.

That scary increase means that new ransomware has more than doubled just in the first quarter of the year. More specifically, it has had a 118% increase in the first quarter of 2019.

KnowBe4 recently shared the details of a study conducted by McAfee Labs finding results supporting theses same volumes. The high increase is enough to alarm users and bring them to fear fear their cyber safety. But what must also be taken into account is the already prevailing ransomware threats that exist.

You’ve likely heard your IT Company say it before, but at The IT Company we will continue to preach it- As cybercriminals find new and more innovative ways to trick you and put your security at risk, it is more and more important to stay informed and ahead of them.

McAfee Labs’ report shows that even with the strong increase in new ransomware, the most common strains continue to be Dharma (Crysisi), GrandCrab and Ryuk.

McAfee also reported that cybercriminals have uploaded an alarming 2.2 billion stolen account credentials onto the dark web.

So what does this mean for you- business leaders, employees and users?

Knowledge is power in a lot of cybersecurity cases. Often times crises could have been prevented had a user been more cautious, more aware, before clicking on something or opening a suspicious email. Which is one reason we at The IT Company continue to share pertinent information about cybersecurity, cybercriminals and the ways people are falling victim to these criminals- to constantly keep your knowledge for what to look for, as sharp and up to date as possible.

However human users are imperfect, they are always going to have “user error” and accidently open something they shouldn’t. The goal is to have this not happen through awareness and Security Awareness Training.

But the other key component to this, is your IT Company. An IT Company that is reliable, responsive and genuinely cares.

Your IT Company should be implementing strong defenses on the front end, in order to block all types of strains, so that when a customer does accidently open a malicious email, there is effective network protection in place.

Do not wait until an employee falls for a social engineering attack, ask your IT department the questions now, to ensure you are strongly and properly defended against potential attacks. Discuss the steps of what your IT department will do when this happens, how they will commit to being responsive and act quick to take the next needed steps in these potential moments of crisis.

At The IT Company, we commonly say “We aren’t only here when things hit the fan and go astray.” Meaning that we will not only be there if something does go astray, (not just in crisis like falling victim to social engineering but in all IT related problems) but we will do our job to protect your network to the best of our ability on the front end.

Not sure what your IT Company should be implementing to have effective network protection? Do you feel that you’re not getting what you pay your IT Department for? Do you fear your IT department’s unresponsiveness is not just frustrating, but could be detrimental if they don’t respond in a moment you need to be able to rely on them? Schedule a meeting with The IT Company today, we would love to help you talk through these topics.