Ransomware is taking organizations of all sizes by storm with a keen eye on the health care sector, as made evident by recent outbreaks in the Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center in Los Angeles, and more recently the Methodist Hospital in Henderson, Kentucky. Although the ransom can be costly, the reality is that the downtime inflicted by ransomware can be even more damaging to businesses.

A recent report commissioned by Intermedia found that 72 percent of employees were unable to access their files for at least two days, and 32 percent were locked out for five days or more. Richard Walters, SVP of Security Products at Intermedia, believes that companies need to take this emerging threat more seriously, and can start to do so by taking the necessary steps to minimize the damages.