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Comment by lfam | Hacker News Reader

Bravo to KQED for owning up to the compromise!

Meanwhile, there are countless lawyers, accountants, doctors, architects, engineers, landlords, and other small and medium businesses that suffer similar attacks and don't talk about it publicly. If you have an important relationship with a business like that, the time to ask them hard questions about security and reliability is now, before the court date, tax audit, surgery, construction commencement, etc.

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Doctors are often the worst, they sit at that intersection of having a lot of valuable (highly personal and life threatening) data but being small businesses that don't take IT seriously. They also have the money to pay for ransomware attacks.

A few years ago I went to a local doctor as a once off and the computers were "down" that day. A week later I walked past and they were shut, they never reopened. A few months later it made the news that local doctors offices were being specifically targeted.

Then be prepared to find out that not only do they not have a good plan, they don't even really understand what you're talking about.

Yes, this will be true 99% of the time. Although I think that most people understand the concept of "backups" in a basic way, and backups are one of the best tools for mitigating ransomware and wipers. Especially for small businesses which are not going to be able to mount a coherent defense.

But if the relationship is important, they will be open to the conversation and it may be worthwhile. For some of us, it may also present a business opportunity.

All good points, especially about creating an opportunity.

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