News 12's Elizabeth Hashagen was joined this morning by Tony Cole and Sean Joyce to talk about the exploding epidemic of ransomware attacks.

Tomorrow, President Joe Biden is meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Biden is expected to raise concerns over a series of ransomware attacks and other cybersecurity concerns with Putin.

Ransomware attacks involve malware that encrypts files on a device or a company's network that results in the system becoming inoperable. The criminals behind these cyberattacks typically demand a ransom, often in bitcoin or some other cryptocurrency, in exchange for the data being returned. Cyber threats jumped to CEOs’ No. 1 concern in a survey that comes out today.

The new wave of digitization in 2020 unlocked remote working and work-from-home opportunities. Companies scrambled to implement cloud technologies or set up collaborative spaces. However, some digital transformations were such knee-jerk reactions that the security aspect was not given enough consideration. Plus, home networks are not as secure as corporate setups, which complicates the matter even further. Is cybersecurity lagging behind the digitization?

In a White House memo, Anne Neuberger, the deputy national security advisor for cyber and emerging technology, says that businesses were warned that "the threats are serious and they are increasing."

The White House memo outlined best practices for safeguarding against ransomware attacks including, backing up data, systems images, and configurations, regular testing, and network segmentation.

How do we get people to be more cyber-savvy?