Are you down with ransomware?

The third largest Utility in Michigan, Lansing BWL,was hit by ransomware and their corporate systems have been down for a week. Not their facility controls, thank you, just their central business and outage reporting system. 

If only there was some sort of warning! It's not like this has been in the media or federal organizations have been warning us:

https://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/2016/april/incidents-of-ransomware-on-the-rise/incidents-of-ransomware-on-the-rise

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/warning-issued-over-new-strain-of-ransomware/

http://arstechnica.com/security/2016/04/ok-panic-newly-evolved-ransomware-is-bad-news-for-everyone/

So down for a week is insane. They should have had regular backups on their corporate systems. Let me repeat that in all caps. THEY SHOULD HAVE HAD REGULAR BACKUPS ON THEIR CORPORATE SYSTEMS.

Here is an article from Naked Security, "8 tips for preventing ransomware". Notice tip #1:

If you do get infected with ransomware, unless you’ve got back-ups, or the crooks made some kind of cryptographic mistake, you’re left with either paying or losing your locked up files forever.
Prevention is far better than a cure. So here are 8 tips to protect yourself against ransomware. 

1. Back up your files regularly and keep a recent backup off-site.The only backup you’ll ever regret is one you left for “another day.” Backups can protect your data against more than just ransomware: theft, fire, flood or accidental deletion all have the same effect. Make sure you encrypt the backed up data so only you can restore it.

Like the hospital in California that was down for a week, there is no way that they were anyway compliant with any standards, as every security standard from HIPAA to FERPA  requires regular backup.