One of the fastest-growing malware threats of the past 18 months affects half of the businesses in the world, and most of them don’t know it. It’s called cryptojacking, an unintended consequence of the booming popularity of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. Most victims don’t notice that they’ve been hit by cryptojacking because its adverse effects are relatively inconsequential: it just steals CPU cycles from your computer, as well as the electricity required to power it. Getting hit by ransomware -- a similarly-pervasive and fast-growing but much more destructive malware threat -- is like a roundhouse punch to the face: your files get locked up with encryption until you pay some distant criminal hundreds or thousands of dollars for the key. Compared to ransomware, cryptojacking seems more like a mosquito bite: an annoyance, not a grave threat. But the harsh reality is that like disease-carrying insects, some cryptojackers bring lethal friends along with them.

https://www.acronis.com/en-us/cyber-protection/ Black Friday has come and gone, and once today’s Cyber Monday 2018 is over, we will have survived the annual marketing onslaught of retailers once again. It’s interesting to see how the sales event has evolved during the past 15 years or so – what was once a one-day, post-Thanksgiving promotion has turn into a weeklong campaign that is the biggest driver of holiday sales -- especially for electronics and home tech. No matter what day you got your new device, however, you’ll want to take a few steps to keep that device – and your data – protected.

We’ve talked about how world class sports teams rely on data to maintain a competitive advantage. It is vital to their training, strategy development, and improving performance. The insights generated from that data make it an incredibly valuable asset, which is why so many teams choose Acronis’ technology to keep their data safe. Another sports leader has joined the ranks of teams who rely on Acronis. Manchester City Football Club – the current English Premier League champions and part of the eight-team City Football Group – has entered into a new global technology partnership. As part of the partnership, Acronis will help the Club enhance and develop its data backup and storage capabilities.

There are few constants in the world. The sun will rise in the east. Rain will fall. Dropped toast will always land buttered-side down. And as quickly as technology advances, the threats to the data we rely on every day evolve as well. While it is difficult to imagine every potential data loss event, since our founding 15 years ago, Acronis has gotten very good at anticipating and responding to threats so customers are always protected. Every solution Acronis offers is designed with the Five Vectors of Data Protection in mind – ensuring data is Safe, Accessible, Private, Authentic and Secure. We remember it by its acronym: SAPAS. This week’s update for Acronis True Image 2019 is the latest addition to our SAPAS-defined protection portfolio.