In this episode of KBKast, we are joined by Chester Wisniewski as we dive deep into the modern era of ransomware and discuss the 2023 Ransomware Report by Sophos. We delve into the ever-evolving challenges of negotiating with cybercriminals for encryption keys, the high cost of recovery, and the potential loss of data even if ransom is paid. Chester also imparts insights on the role of cyber insurance and its implications, and ultimately, highlights that preparation is key to prevention. It is high time for organisations to invest in infrastructure and to stay vigilant to limit any type of future damage and to protect sensitive information.

Chester Wisniewski is a field chief technology officer in applied research at next-generation security leader Sophos. With more than 20 years of professional experience,  Chester analyses the massive amounts of attack data gathered by SophosLabs to distill and share relevant information in an effort to improve the industry’s understanding of evolving threats, attacker behaviours and effective security defences. He’s helped organisations design enterprise-scale defence strategies, served as the primary technical lead on architecting Sophos’ first email security appliance, and consulted on security planning with some of the largest global brands. 

Chester regularly speaks at industry events, including RSA Conference, Virus Bulletin, Security BSides (Vancouver, London, Wales, Perth, Austin, Detroit, Los Angeles, Boston, and Calgary) and others. He’s widely recognised as one of the industry’s top security researchers and is regularly consulted by press, appearing on BBC News, ABC, NBC, Bloomberg, CNBC, CBC, NPR, and more.