What is Ransomware?
Ransomware is malware that encrypts your files and demands payment (usually in cryptocurrency) to decrypt them - modern variants also exfiltrate data and threaten to publish it.
Ransomware attacks against US small businesses peaked in 2024-2026 with average ransom demands climbing into six figures and recovery costs averaging $1.5-2.5M when business interruption is included. Florida has been disproportionately targeted because of its concentration of small medical, legal, and real-estate offices.
Modern ransomware operates as a double-extortion model: encrypt the data and exfiltrate a copy. Even if you restore from backup and refuse to pay, the attacker threatens to publish stolen client records - particularly damaging for HIPAA-covered practices.
Defense layers: endpoint protection (CrowdStrike, SentinelOne, Microsoft Defender for Business), backups stored offline or immutable, MFA on every account, principle of least privilege, regular tabletop exercises, and an incident response plan that includes legal and PR coordination.
Why it matters for Florida small business
Ransomware is the single most-feared scenario in every security reviewer's mind in 2026. Premiums skyrocket if your defenses don't show.
What to do
Run a tabletop exercise this quarter using a real ransomware scenario. Verify your backups by attempting an actual restore - most businesses discover their backups are unusable only after they need them.