(WENY)-- Holidays are special for many people across the United States as they allow for us to meet up with friends and family members, people we do not get to see throughout the year. Holidays usually mean longer weekends and because of this, hackers have also come to love holidays because this means you will be gone from the office for a long period of time. 

Just this year meat processing giant JBS was hacked right before memorial day and IT management software company Kaseya was hacked right before the fourth of July. 

While this trend is not something new a warning from the FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency points to how serious these attacks are becoming. 

The reason long weekends and weekends, in general, are so valued by ransomware hackers is that hacking entire systems can take time and the longer they have to get into a network, the more damage they can do. 

Most companies do have IT crews that can deal with these issues but obviously during holidays, they are nowhere near the office, leaving the systems vulnerable. 

The press release did not point to any attack in particular but it should be no surprise if attacks are at least tried throughout the long weekend. 

For those who do not know, ransomware is malicious software that encrypts a user’s files, making them impossible to access without a key. The hackers then ask that the company or individuals pay them in Bitcoin or cryptocurrency to get their files back. 

Ransomware attacks have seen a 20% increase from 2019-2020 as 2,500 complaints were filed with the FBI. 

Unfortunately, preventing ransomware attacks from happening is nothing like looking at the doors to your house before heading on a road trip, unless the thief was hiding in your house days before you left. 

What I mean is, most attackers have already been inside of your system for some time and they have just been waiting for the opportune time, like a long holiday weekend, to attack your system. 

There are steps you can take to try and prevent being hacked and the FBI and CISA recommend that: 

  • You do not click on suspicious links 

  • Make an offline backup of your data

  • Use strong passwords 

  • Make sure all software is updated 

  • Use two-factor authentication