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Cyberattacks are the fastest growing crime in the U.S., and they are increasing in size, sophistication and cost.

The impact on society is reflected in the numbers. Cybersecurity Ventures predicted that cybercrime will cost the world $6 trillion annually by 2021, up from $3 trillion in 2015. This risks the incentives for innovation and investment, and will be more profitable than the global trade of all major illegal drugs combined.

Ransomware ebbs and flows in the media, with other stories sometimes drowning out the reporting of major attacks and at other times, like the last few months, ransomware attacks are all over the headlines. Despite the inconsistent media coverage, ransomware and cybercrime have been growing consistently, and at times exponentially, for years.

The trend is continuing in 2021, with publicized attacks up year over year every month so far in 2021.

Not only are the number of attacks up, but the cost of attacks are increasing as well. Coveware, an incident response firm, has compiled a report of ransomware incident response trends during Q1 of 2021, finding that the average ransom payment has reached $220,298, which is an increase of 43% when compared with that of just the previous quarter in Q4 2020.

Attackers don’t discriminate, going after any company, individual or organization regardless of size or industry.

Many have heard of the Colonial Pipeline attack or the attack on the JBS Meat Packing Company, but the majority of attacks (62%) still affect small and medium businesses.

One common theme is that cybercriminals will go after the “low-hanging fruit”, prioritizing easy exploitations from outdated and unpatched software and phishing campaigns.

 

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Teresa Thomas

Teresa Thomas

As a 25-year veteran of the financial services industry, Teresa has worn many hats including corporate communication, product and concept marketing, meeting and convention planning, training and mentoring. All while also balancing being a daughter, sister, mom, friend and colleague. It’s true, in her first semester of graduate school, she dropped out of her Secondary Education curriculum – recognizing that teachers have a magnificent gift (that she did not). So, she took her love of teaching in a different direction and thoroughly enjoys the opportunity she has to educate you on not just the importance of retirement savings, but also the many ways in which you can plan now to achieve your retirement success! A native of Philadelphia, she is learning to wear a new hat in “Cowboy Country” as a newly-minted resident of Dallas, TX where she spends most of her time corralling her two boys, two cats, a dog and several fish TC124597(1221)3