FBI and the federal CISA have issued a ransomware awareness alert

The FBI and the federal Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) have issued a ransomware awareness alert for the upcoming holiday weekend. The FBI and CISA have observed a trend of increased attacks around U.S. holidays. Businesses are more vulnerable when there are fewer workers in the office or workers are more distracted than usual before a long weekend.

Immediate Actions You Can Take Now to Protect Against Ransomware

• Make an offline backup of your data.
• Do not click on suspicious links.
• If you use a remote desktop, secure and monitor it.
• Make sure your software and antivirus are up to date.
• Use strong passwords.
• Use multi-factor authentication.

Here is a link to the alert: https://us-cert.cisa.gov/ncas/alerts/aa21-243a