RMMagazine 1

Tuttle, H. (2018). Only half of ransomware payouts result in data recovery. Retrieved from http://www.rmmagazine.com/2018/04/02/only-half-of-ransomware-payouts-result-in-data-recovery/

Tuttle (2018) describes how ransomware attacks are rising and people are losing their data to these attackers, who hack into computers and networks, take the information that is stored therein by locking out the users and obliging them to pay a ransom in order to get access to their data. This is why it is called ransomware. The hackers hold the data hostage (instead of people), and if the ransom is paid, then the hackers are supposed to give access back to the rightful owner. However, as Tuttle (2018) shows, there is really only a 50-50 chance of one actually getting their data back if they do decide to pay the ransom.

These findings come from the research firm CyberEdge Group, which “found that 55% of organizations were compromised by ransomware last year” (Tuttle, 2018). That is an extraordinary percentage, and indicates that companies must be prepared to face cyber risk in the future so that they do not have to deal with issues like ransomware infecting their computers and networks and causing them to lose access to their data and information storage systems.

However, the one good point that Tuttle (2018) does not is that the research firm CyberEdge Group shows that that ransomware attacks are actually on a decrease, because in 2016, 61% of organizations surveyed had been compromised by ransomware attacks. In other words, either hackers are using this method of attack less frequently or else businesses are starting to wake up and taking ransomware more seriously and are thus developing methods of combating these attacks, protecting their equipment and infrastructure and exercising proper risk management.

The bad news is that if a company is compromised by a ransomware attack, there is only a 50% chance of the data being recovered should the organization choose to pay the ransom. Otherwise, the company...

Paying the ransom is no guarantee that data recovery will be possible. This means that companies have to be extra careful when it comes to managing the risk regarding ransomware. Having backup data storage, for instance, is a crucial imperative in today’s digital world: files have to be backed up if they can’t be secured. Risk management in the digital age entails having a data backup strategy in place, as CyberEdge Group points out (Tuttle, 2018).
Another piece of good news, according to this article is that CyberEdge Group also saw a decline in the percentage of companies negatively impacted by a cyber attack. In 2016, 79% of organizations were the victims of cyber attacks. In 2017, 77% were victims of cyber attacks. That’s a 2% decrease in the amount of victims of cyber attacks; however, that is still a very high figure, which shows that many organizations are still not very well protected when it comes to digital safety and security.

The overall aim of Tuttle’s (2018) article, therefore, is to show that while some companies are taking steps to protect themselves, others are still negligent and need to be woken up to the fact that cyber attacks are real. If safety measures are not taken to prevent them, one cannot simply rely upon paying the ransom in order to get data back, because in the cases of ransomware attacks, paying the ransom only gives on a 50% chance of having access to data restored.

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McDonald, C. (2018). M&A growth consistent in 2018. Retrieved from http://www.rmmagazine.com/2018/04/02/ma-growth-consistent-in-2018/

McDonald writes that mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in 2018 are set to be on track for meeting M&A growth in 2016 and 2017. While there were huge mergers and acquisitions so far this year already, such as AIG’s acquisition of Validus for $5.6 billion and AXA’s purchase of XL Group for $15.3 billion, these two acquisitions are not expected to drive M&A growth beyond what was seen in…