After being hit three times in the last year, a luxury hotel in Austria is tired of paying a ransom to get its data back. The Romantik Seehotel, according to Motherboard, recently paid about $1,600 in Bitcoin to regain access to its computers and data. At the heart of the issue was their inability to create the magnetic key cards that have become all but ubiquitous in today’s hotel experience. Again, the third time seems to be the charm, because the hotel owners have reported that they will be converting the security system back to old school locks and keys as a result of this third ransomware event.

Repeated targets are a good investment of time and resources for ransomware attackers. They know their victim’s threshold of pain and they keep the ransom below the point at which victims would refuse to pay. As the numbers of ransomware attacks increases each year, we should expect that repeat offenses will grow as well. If it’s not broke, don’t fix it.

Free The Hostages

The goal, then should be to break the system that allows even the first penetration by ransomware. Does that mean going back to padlocks and keychains? Probably not, especially since even the hotel’s reservation system will still retain a digital footprint at the very least.

Your data’s got to be free to do your bidding, grow your business, and take your brand into the world. Let ICS help you free your data and protect it from all cybersecurity threats.