Petya, Another Massive Ransomware Outbreak

I feel like I am beating a drum at the top of the mountain and yelling to the masses to be vigilant, patch your systems, protect yourselves, back up your data and climb to the top of the mountain with me and be safe from all this badness.  Yet, it keeps happening and the reason why is ... money.   Cyber criminals are making millions of dollars per month and according to the FBI and other sources, with the invention of Bitcoin, this is now a Billion dollar business.  Where there are anonymous billions to be made, the effort used to extort that money from people will continue to grow.

Today, Petya is causing havoc on Ukranian businesses, banks and energy companies and you can follow some of the chaos as it blows up on Twitter.  As an IT company, we manage to keep our customers safe using a layered approach which I will share with you all in a later blog. In the mean time, here is a  modified sample of what we sent out to our customers as an added measure of security. I hope it may be useful to you as well.

Security researchers have identified another serious ransomware outbreak known as Petya. It originated in Europe but is rapidly spreading throughout the world today and is affecting businesses across all verticals. Rest assured iuvo Technologies is committed to protecting your  computer and network security. However, the most critically important component to any IT security portfolio is you! Here are some general guidelines to follow that will significantly reduce your risk of infection.

• Do not open attachments from any sender unless you have verified they in fact intended to send you an attachment.
• Do not click or follow links in email or online that are not from trusted senders or parties.
• Keep your internet browsing on your work computer/device to work related activities and trusted sites.
• Report any suspicious warnings, pop-ups or emails to us immediately by sending an email to us.
• If you suspect your system has become infected, immediately power it off, disconnect the network cable (if applicable) and contact us.

Thank you for helping to keep yourself and company safe!