In the 9 months they were in operation the DarkSide hackers, who demanded ransom to unlock computers belonging to Colonial Pipeline, made $90 million dollars.

The group sold Ransomware as a service. Just as your company purchases licenses of Google Workspace or Microsoft 365, hackers could buy licenses to a ransomware service. The service handled all aspects of the ransom process, including collecting ransom payments.

The astounding number to keep in mind is that Darkside was charging 10% of the total ransomware take. If Darkside made $90 million, the total ransomware take for the 9-month period was $900 million, or just short of a billion dollars.

This is why I say Ransomware is the new normal and will continue to be a threat to all institutions, large and small. There is too much money to be made for it to fade away.

Protecting your company from Ransomware

When your company gets hit with Ransomware, your productivity drops to zero until either the Ransomware is paid, or systems are re-imaged and databases are restored. Colonial Pipeline was down for 9 days. What would be the cost to your business if it were offline for over a week, let alone if you had to pay a multi million dollar ransom?

The good news is that you can protect your institution against ransomware. The most cost effective step is to get an Enterprise malware protection system that protects endpoints, email and cloud storage. The cost of this solution is less than a tiny fraction of a Ransomware attack: A few dollars per computer per month.

Contact us if you are interested in finding out more about protecting your institution from ransomware attacks.