Governments have proven to be soft targets for cyberattacks leveraging ransomware in 2018. And, from the recent attacks in 2019, it looks like things are just getting started.

If you haven’t heard by now, the City of Baltimore was the most recent victim of ransomware – an attack that has taken weeks to recover from and is still in the process of remediation. The latest estimate of this attack tops off at just about $18 million – dwarfing the 13-bitcoin ransom demand equaling about $103,000.

According to security vendor Recorded Future’s latest Review of State and Local Government Ransomware Attacks report, ransomware attacks against state and local governments rose 39 percent in 2018, and are finding surprising similar trends in 2019.

With 22 cases of ransomware attacks hitting state and local government in the news, it looks like 2019 is going to be just as devastating as 2018. In the case of the City of Baltimore, this multi-week disaster has left them rebuilding much of their IT infrastructure, with email still unavailable even after weeks of remediating the initial infection.

Government offices are seen as easier prey by attackers. With less budget put towards security, and employees that are not well-trained around being security-minded, it’s relatively easy to understand why.

One cost-effective means to elevate local and state government’s security stance is to leverage Security Awareness Training to keep users vigilant of social engineering and phishing attacks that result in malware or ransomware infection.

Free Ransomware Simulator Tool

How vulnerable is your network against ransomware attacks?

Bad guys are constantly coming out with new strains to evade detection. Is your network effective in blocking all of them when employees fall for social engineering attacks?

KnowBe4’s "RanSim" gives you a quick look at the effectiveness of your existing network protection. RanSim will simulate 13 ransomware infection scenarios and 1 cryptomining infection scenario and show you if a workstation is vulnerable.

Here's how it works:

100% harmless simulation of real ransomware and cryptomining infections



Does not use any of your own files



Tests 14 types of infection scenarios



Just download the install and run it



Results in a few minutes!

PS: Don't like to click on redirected buttons? Cut & Paste this link in your browser:

https://www.knowbe4.com/ransomware-simulator