Overcoming A False Sense of Security in a Digital World

The Cisco® 2016 Midyear Cybersecurity Report (MCR) finds that ransomware has become the most profitable type of malware in history—and businesses are now a target of choice for ransomware operators.

In the first half of 2016, ransomware campaigns targeting both individual and enterprise users accelerated from a nuisance to a critical threat rapidly spreading and reaching an all time high. According to the FBI, in the first three months of 2016, cybercriminals collected $209 million by extorting businesses and institutions to unlock computer servers. At that rate, ransomware is on pace to become a $1 billion business this year, with total losses climbing even higher once related business costs are factored in.

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An Evolving and Complex Security Landscape

Cisco security researchers expect to see the trend continue with faster and more effective propagation methods that maximize the impact of ransomware campaigns and increase perpetrator revenue. The 2016 MCR suggest that new modular strains of ransomware will be able to quickly switch tactics to maximize efficiency and evade detection. These next-generation ransomware strains could be configured to have no-command-and-control functionality, and will spread faster and self-replicate within organizations before coordinating ransom activities.

It's Time for a More Simple and Secure Future

Just because it can happen, doesn't mean it has to. The best protection against attacks such as ransomware is security everywhere. To be truly effective, security needs to be integrated, automated, open, and simple. Effective security will help protect your customers against a breach's far-reaching effects and turn the tables on attackers. Security Made Simpleis a new family of Cisco security solutions and servicesdesigned to deliver an integrated, threat-centric security architecture that's easy for partners to sell and easy for customers to use.

Security Made Simplereplaces complexity with innovation making it easy to manage every device across the customer environment, from the network to the cloud. Distributed and mobile businesses can deploy effective security from the branch office to headquarters and to end-users wherever they go. The new solutions and serviceswill detect more threats and ransomware across the network and help customers reduce their average time to detection to less than 17 hours — much faster than the industry standard of 100 days.

For more details on the evolution of ransomware, and what you can do to help prepare your customers for next-generation threats in this space, download the 2016 MCR. Or, visit Cisco Digital Innovation Togetherand see how Security Made Simplewill help you simplify, differentiate, and grow profits.

Additional Cisco Resources:

Cisco 2016 MCR: Executive Perspectives Video

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