When it comes to ransomware, there is good news (sort of) and bad news (definitely).

“Once ransomware hits, the good news is you know about it,” said Eric Cole, founder and executive leader at Virginia-based Secure Anchor Consulting and a former member of the White House Commission on Cyber Security. “You know it’s on your system because you can’t access your data.”

And the bad news? In a webinar presentation sponsored by Norwalk-based Xerox, Cole — who is also a former chief technology officer at computer security company McAfee and former chief scientist at aerospace and arms company Lockheed Martin Corp. — noted that many people might be working on devices infected with ransomware without knowing their situation.

“We’ve seen a lot of attackers who are actually putting the payload on the system in what we call a ‘time bomb,’” he said. “There’s a probability that you might have ransomware on your system that has not been activated.”

Cole divided the business world’s approach to ransomware into two categories: either spending “a little bit upfront to make sure your data is protected, secured and locked down”…

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