Monroe College is just the latest in a series of academic institutions impacted by a ransomware attack. These attacks significantly curtail their operations while costing precious funds that are earmarked for academics. Therefore, it’s imperative to understand potential vulnerabilities before such an attack occurs. Given the high expense of recovery, the slew of negative press, and the opportunity cost associated with a ransomware attack, the relatively affordable cost of examining network vulnerabilities and compromised credentials is a bargain.

In the wake of this attack, Arlington County is taking several steps to protect their infrastructure in the future, including updating their network’s ability to identify a phishing email before it reaches an employee’s inbox and providing training to employees to identity and delete phishing emails before they compromise the network’s integrity. These measures can significantly reduce the risk of a phishing scam, and every organization should implement these protocols as a precaution against not a response to a phishing scam.

Ransomware attacks on government agencies and institutions are on the rise, making a response plan a must-have element of any cybersecurity initiative. La Porte officials demonstrated many benefits of these plans, including rapid response capabilities, clear communication channels, and proper insurance to reduce the expense of an attack. Of course, surveying your organization’s IT infrastructure should be a top priority as well, since it can prevent an attack before it occurs.

Phishing attacks are an easy way for hackers to circumvent security standards by relying on employee ignorance and indifference to gain access to sensitive computer networks. Every organization can defend against these attacks by conducting awareness training with their employees. By equipping employees to identify and report phishing emails, organizations can effectively render these attacks ineffective.

Ransomware can have catastrophic consequences for any organization, but this incident is a reminder that they are often initiated by subtle mistakes. In this case, a single phishing email could have compromised the IT infrastructure for an entire city government. Maintaining adequate backup services and other restorative processes are critical to recovering from a ransomware attack but protecting against the methods that are frequently used to deploy these attacks is equally important.