This blog is the first in a two-part series about Ransomware and how you may be able to protect your organization — big or small — against the same. Part one of this series will define ransomware and how it works. Part two of this series will provide tips on how you can protect your business against ransomware.

Chris Plauschinn began his career in the technology realm with Commonwealth Legal before it was acquired by Ricoh in 2014. Now the Director of Cloud and Infrastructure Solutions, Chris oversees both the public and private cloud infrastructure that powers the software solutions offered by Ricoh Canada.

Editor’s Note: This post was originally published on December 12, 2019. Updated and republished on January 11, 2021.

Bad data is typically categorized as erroneous, duplicative, personal or sensitive in nature, but there's more to it than that. Bad data can also be defined as anything that is stored in an outdated or non-functional legacy software, kept for the purposes of record keeping. Whether it’s the nature of its contents or how it’s being stored, most organizations are increasingly faced with managing the complexities of bad data. What’s worse, the practice of retaining dirty data can cost organizations billions of dollars each year if they are in violation of information and data management policies and procedures. 

How can you address what you don’t know you have?

No, this isn’t a trick question. The answer is simply that you cannot. In order to know and effectively address what data your organization has, you have to take a few steps back and define, create, and implement an overall data strategy.

October was Cyber Security Awareness Month. While it's important to take internet safety seriously every day of the year, this past month served an important reminder of the realities of the current online climate. Here are top five stats that help illustrate the importance of securing your accounts in today's digital age.

Imagine this scenario:

While working from home, you receive a call. The person on the other end says they’re calling from IT. It’s come to their attention that the recent firewall upgrade is blocking employees from accessing the network through the VPN. To resolve the issue, they’re going to have to reset everyone’s user profiles. 

By now, we all know not to click on links from unknown senders, but what about from people we do know? Today I’d like to focus on the concerning surge in ransomware attacks — particularly those triggered by opening email attachments. Whether the sender is well known or even internal from your own organization, there are several reasons why sending files via email should be a practice of the past. In this blog I’ll be sharing a recent case study, why ransomware attacks are on the rise in 2020 and how you can avoid falling victim to these schemes.

WhatsApp, iMessage, Skype, Snapchat and DMs. There’s even a Messenger Kids app for children by Facebook. The list goes on and on when it comes to ways to communicate with your friends, family and work associates.

It is more important than ever that employees understand the significance of information security and the part they can play in reducing the risks to sensitive data.