Ransomware has been a hot topic within the cyber security industry for quite some time now. It’s an often-lucrative cyber-attack method with an attractive return on investment. The motivation behind Ransomware attacks tends to be primarily financial, as cyber criminals can’t resist such easy opportunities to achieve their malicious goals. Ransomware is effective given that almost every individual or organization owns or has access to digital assets which are valuable to them.

Despite a small decline in the total volume of ransomware attacks, assailants are increasingly leveraging the attack method as a targeted way to extort enterprises. This shift toward more selective targets is a typical trend within the Cyber Security industry. For example, at one point, mass phishing emails were all the rage. Attackers would send generic messages to hundreds or thousands of users, hoping that one naïve person would click on a link and help the attacker further their agenda.

“We have your precious data! Pay us or lose it forever!” This is a message no organization or individual ever wants to see. Nevertheless, given trends over time in cyber security, ransomware remains a concern for many organizations. Here is a look at interesting examples of successful ransomware attacks and some lessons we can learn from each.

Since the first documented ransomware attack occurred in the late 80s, the attack method has increasingly become a threat to organizations and individual consumers. One cybercriminal may lock up a family’s computer and hold their precious photo memories hostage with the threat of deleting them. Another may cripple a business by locking up their primary revenue generating application database, costing the company millions of dollars in lost sales by the minute.

The author G.K. Chesterton noted that “there is a lot of difference between listening and hearing.” Of the four communication skills – listening, speaking, reading and writing – we learn listening first, but as time goes on many of us seem to lose interest in truly listening to what others have to say. Leaders would do well to work on listening to inspire workers and increase productivity.

If you suspect that your employees are wasting time on the job and they are not performing up to expectations, it might be time to transform the culture of your organization. A company with a toxic culture runs the risk that employees will remain disengaged and productivity will decline even further. As a leader, you have the perfect opportunity to make improvements by building a culture of support and respect and strengthening teamwork.

Financial gain is one of the most common motivations behind cyber-attacks, making the financial sector an attractive target for cyber criminals. Recently, it was reported that companies in finance lost nearly $20 billion due to cyber-attacks and breaches. Furthermore, it was reported that financial companies get attacked 2500x more than a typical business for a total of over one billion attack attempts in a single year. These attacks don’t just target financial institutions.

Investigating a once trusted employee for potential misuse, theft, or other offenses regarding company resources can be a complicated process. While we all hope to hire ethically sound employees, various factors can contribute to ending up with a bad apple in the bunch. Labeled, insider threats, these employees pose a grave risk to organizations due to the insider knowledge and often authorized access they have to critical resources.

The concept of emotional intelligence was first introduced by psychologist Dr. Daniel Goleman in 1995. Dr. Goleman found that while intelligence (IQ) is an important factor in leadership, a high level of emotional intelligence (EI) marks those who emerge as highly effective leaders. Emotional intelligence involves soft skills such as discipline, motivation and empathy.

Every visionary business wants to onboard the best of the best when it comes to talent. When hiring, companies look for hardworking, trustworthy individuals that they can rely on to propel the business forward. Similarly, people don’t typically hire people thinking they might start stealing money or misusing information and resources. Unfortunately, this happens quite regularly.