The year 2021 was marked by worst ransomware attacks, such as the attack on JBS Foods and Colonial Pipeline, causing loss of data and money for the affected companies. We've gathered the worst ransomware attacks of the last year in this post with some tips for your business to avoid this kind of headache.

What is a Ransomware Attack?

According to the U.S. Government’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Assurance Agency (CISA): “Ransomware is an ever-evolving form of malware designed to encrypt files on a device, rendering any files and the systems that rely on them unusable. Malicious actors then demand ransom in exchange for decryption. Ransomware actors often target and threaten to sell or leak exfiltrated data or authentication information if the ransom is not paid.”
In general words, it is a type of 'data kidnapping' where criminals act through cybernetic attacks to invade systems and steal such data and ask for money in exchange for the return of the data or the total loss.

The worst attacks in 2021

Colonial Pipeline

The attack on Colonial Pipeline becomes one of the worst because the collapse of the system ended up interrupting the supply of gas throughout the eastern United States, causing panic in the population. The cybercriminals who attacked the company's data, called DarkSide, asked for 4.4 million in bitcoins to stop the attacks, and Colonial Pipeline ended up giving in.

JBS Foods USA

JBS Foods had one of the highest data ransoms ever, $11 million worth of bitcoins. Although the ransomware attack on the meat processing company did not cause the population to panic as the Colonial Pipeline attack did, JBS had to briefly suspend much of its operations.

Acer

The famous computer brand was the target of a costly ransomware attack, until then the most expensive ransom of all time, 50 million dollars. The hackers responsible for this attack are known as REvil and are also responsible for attacks against Quanta and Travelex. REvil hackers exploited a vulnerability in a Microsoft Exchange server to gain access to Acer's files and leaked images of confidential financial documents and spreadsheets.

How not to suffer attacks like these?

It is impossible to say that cybercriminals will not continue with their attacks, but we can say that you can be more safe in your business if they try.

With Cohesity, you can be protected in the fight against attacks. In addition to backing up your data to the secondary cloud to ensure the functionality of your system, Cohesity has Cohesity DataProtect Delivered as a Service, which protects your data before it is attacked and ensures fast recovery if an attack occurs.

Download now the latest Cohesity Ransomware Readiness.

Contact us and learn more about Cohesity's solutions against ransomware attacks.