November 1, 2021 By David Ruiz
Ransomware attacks, despite dramatically increasing in frequency this summer, remain opaque for many potential victims. It isn’t anyone’s fault, necessarily, since news articles about ransomware attacks often focus on the attack, the suspected threat actors, the ransomware type, and, well, not much else. Sadly, there’s rarely discussion about the lengthy recovery, which, according to the Ransomware Task Force, can last an average of 287 days, or about the complicated matter that the biggest, claimed defense to ransomware attacks—backups—often fail.
There also isn’t enough coverage about the human impact from ransomware. These cyberattacks do not just hit machines—they hit businesses, organizations, and the people who help those places run.
To better understand the nuts and bolts of a ransomware attack, we spoke to Ski Kacaroski, a systems administrator who, in 2019, helped pulled his school district out of a ransomware nightmare that encrypted crucial data, locked up vital systems, and even threatened employee pay. Kacaroski spoke at length on our Lock and Code podcast, which can be heard in full below, offering several insights for those who may not know the severity of a ransomware attack.
Here are some of the most surprising and insightful lessons that he shared with us.
