Every business owner should be aware of the substantial issues caused by the latest malware attack which has played out over the past month or so.

This attack exploited a newly leaked toolkit from the National Security Agency. “WannaCry,” as it is called, took advantage of a well-known vulnerability – one that had a patch released in March called MS17-010.

While taking advantage of a known vulnerability is nothing new, this time it was packaged with more traditional ransomware software. Ransomware is a virus that encrypts the contents of a computer and attached storage and requires a ransom to be paid by the system owner in order to decrypt and get back your files.

It was this combination of ploys which resulted in one of the most widely and quickly distributed attacks in recent history.

Here’s what most business owners don’t know or realize – this type of attack is easily prevented by putting in place sound cybersecurity practices. It’s called foundational cybersecurity – essentially getting back to basics.

To demonstrate, compare the preparation and response to this global attack by two fictitious businesses: Business A and Business B.

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