Simon Whittaker

The dedicated Pinsent Masons cyber team has seen a 50% rise in clients experiencing ransomware attacks, this seems to be a fuelled by the additional risks posed through substantial numbers of employees working from home. Typically, cyber criminals encrypt a company’s IT system, make a demand for payment and if the payment is not made, information can be leaked on the dark web. We can share our experience on the key challenges, which include considering whether to negotiate with the attacker and pay the ransom, notifying relevant regulators and law enforcement as well as managing complaints from people affected. We will also share our experience in what steps to take to try and avoid an attack.

Simon will be discussing the experiences of him and his team at Vertical Structure with compromises, “hacks”, data breaches and ransomware. He will be using real life examples about how and very much how not to respond in the case of a cyber incident and the best way to get everyone back up and running safely and securely. He will highlight the importance of identifying entry points and times into the systems and will share valuable stories, hints and tips about how we can all handle incidents better.