--- title: Latest stories from James Slaby description: Stay up to date with the latest cybersecurity and cyber protection news, research, vulnerabilities, threats and computer attacks. canonical_url: https://www.acronis.com/en/blog/authors/james-slaby/page/3/ locale: en last_updated: 2026-10-27 --- [Acronis Blog](https://www.acronis.com/en/blog/) [Authors](https://www.acronis.com/en/blog/authors/) James Slaby ![Image 1: James Slaby](https://staticfiles.acronis.com/images/content/36117e925e5b5e501a197e22a2959987.png) James Slaby # Latest stories from James Slaby [14 June 2019 — 4 min read Acronis Blog ![Image 2: Backups and the GDPR “right to be forgotten”: Recommendations](https://staticfiles.acronis.com/images/blog-cover/bd62a55daae50fdec0d6a6b238034607.png) Ransomware Crushes Another Manufacturing Industry Target Another of the world’s major manufacturers was laid low recently by a ransomware attack. Production at ASCO, the giant Belgian airplane parts maker, has been halted for over a week with no end in sight. Nearly 1,000 employees have been sent home on paid leave while the company struggles to restore critical systems frozen by the malware assault. Unfortunately, the fate of ASCO has been shared by many organizations that are ill-prepared to combat the world’s deadliest malware threat. The incident reflects a number of major trends in the ongoing struggle between cybercriminals and their targets in the public and private sector.](https://www.acronis.com/en/blog/posts/ransomware-crushes-another-manufacturing-industry-target/) [20 May 2019 — 4 min read Acronis Blog ![Image 3: Backups and the GDPR “right to be forgotten”: Recommendations](https://staticfiles.acronis.com/images/blog-cover/bd62a55daae50fdec0d6a6b238034607.png) RobbinHood: The New Ransomware Variant Crippling Municipal Governments in the U.S. Ransomware continues its reign as one of the most pervasive malware threats to assail businesses, government institutions and consumers in 2019, with new variants appearing almost daily. One particularly nasty new strain of ransomware, dubbed RobbinHood, recently locked up critical IT systems and brought down corresponding public services in two North American cities: Greenville, NC and Baltimore, MD.](https://www.acronis.com/en/blog/posts/robbinhood-new-ransomware-variant-crippling-municipal-governments-us/) [13 May 2019 — 2 min read Acronis Blog ![Image 4: Your Biggest Threat To GDPR Compliance Might Be A Ransomware Breach](https://staticfiles.acronis.com/images/blog-cover/18a373b02d45b7c3ed01a5efacfff718.png) Former FBI Counter-Intelligence Superstar Eric O’Neill to Dive Deep on Why Ransomware Continues to Be the #1 Cybercrime You don’t have to be a tech pro to be aware of how pervasive and destructive criminal cyberattacks on consumers, businesses and public institutions have become these days – with ransomware being first among them. In fact, the latest annual edition of Verizon’s Data Breach Investigations Report (DBIR) reports that ransomware incursions accounted for 75% of the malware-driven security incidents of the past 12 months. The aggressive and lucrative use of ransomware as a favored cybercrime weapon has long been the focus of Eric O’Neill, the renowned former FBI counter-intelligence and author of the recently-published "Gray Day: My Undercover Mission to Expose America’s First Cyberspy", which recounts his role in unmasking and imprisoning notorious FBI mole Robert Hannsen (which was also told in 2007's "Breach"). A sought-after consultant on cybersecurity issues, O’Neill has been announced a featured speaker at the first annual Acronis Global Cyber Summit in October ... and he’s ready to dive deep.](https://www.acronis.com/en/blog/posts/former-fbi-counter-intelligence-superstar-eric-oneill-dive-deep-why-ransomware-continues-be-1/) [04 April 2019 — 4 min read Acronis Blog ![Image 5: To Defend Infrastructure, Focus First on Obvious Vulnerabilities](https://staticfiles.acronis.com/images/blog-cover/f62a350b7e35dfe1e3dd057a635af90b.png) To Defend Infrastructure, Focus First on Obvious Vulnerabilities In 1966, Robert F. Kennedy delivered a speech that cited an ancient Chinese curse: “May [you] live in interesting times.” He continued, “Like it or not, we live in interesting times. They are times of danger and uncertainty, but they are also the most creative of any time in the history of mankind.” That measured perspective, simultaneously seeing the glass as half-empty and half-full, is a useful one to adopt when considering infrastructure vulnerabilities in 2019.](https://www.acronis.com/en/blog/posts/defend-infrastructure-focus-first-obvious-vulnerabilities/) [13 February 2019 — 4 min read Acronis Blog ![Image 6: Your Biggest Threat To GDPR Compliance Might Be A Ransomware Breach](https://staticfiles.acronis.com/images/blog-cover/18a373b02d45b7c3ed01a5efacfff718.png) Avoiding Cyber Mayhem: Hard Lessons from the Catastrophic Attack on VFEmail.com Imagine yourself as a service provider who wakes up one day, pours a cup of coffee, and checks email, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter – only to discover a flurry of panicky messages from customers about your service being unavailable. You rush to your management console to find that nothing is working; your entire operating environment is an unresponsive black hole.](https://www.acronis.com/en/blog/posts/avoiding-cyber-mayhem-hard-lessons-catastrophic-attack-vfemailcom/) [04 January 2019 — 4 min read Acronis Blog ![Image 7: For VARs and Service Providers, The Time Is Ripe to Help Customers with GDPR](https://staticfiles.acronis.com/images/blog-cover/30ed349a67c19cf8c26685d868f90f47.png) Good News! Fighting Malware in 2019 Will Be Much Easier (Just Kidding ... It Gets Way Harder) Looking back at 2018, the fight against malware showed glimmers of promise, as new technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) were successfully deployed in some quarters to fight high-priority threats like ransomware. The outlook for 2019 is less rosy, though, as malicious state actors and cybercriminals prepare for battle with a new array of tools and techniques designed to create mayhem and reap profits at the expense of everyone else. Buckle up, IT security pros: the following trends indicate the anti-malware ride in 2019 is going to be a bumpy one.](https://www.acronis.com/en/blog/posts/good-news-fighting-malware-2019-will-be-much-easier-just-kidding-it-gets-way-harder/) [07 December 2018 — 3 min read Acronis Blog ![Image 8: For VARs and Service Providers, The Time Is Ripe to Help Customers with GDPR](https://staticfiles.acronis.com/images/blog-cover/30ed349a67c19cf8c26685d868f90f47.png) Sobering Lessons from the KraussMaffei Ransomware Attack The recent cyberattack on KraussMaffei, a German manufacturer of molding machinery for plastics and rubber, provides another reminder of the growth, persistence and destructiveness of ransomware. For those unfamiliar with it, ransomware is a type of malware that targets and infects servers, workstations and mobile devices, encrypts all the data it finds, and then presents a note demanding an online payment for the key necessary to unlock the files.](https://www.acronis.com/en/blog/posts/sobering-lessons-kraussmaffei-ransomware-attack/) [28 November 2018 — 4 min read Acronis Blog ![Image 9: Backups and the GDPR “right to be forgotten”: Recommendations](https://staticfiles.acronis.com/images/blog-cover/bd62a55daae50fdec0d6a6b238034607.png) Cryptojacking: The Petty Cyber Crime Hiding a Deadly Threat 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/blog/posts/cryptojacking-petty-cyber-crime-hiding-deadly-threat/) [27 June 2018 — 4 min read Acronis Blog ![Image 10: Backups and the GDPR “right to be forgotten”: Recommendations](https://staticfiles.acronis.com/images/blog-cover/bd62a55daae50fdec0d6a6b238034607.png) Summer Reading List: 'The President is Missing' IT security professionals often cringe in amusement when cybercrime-themed novels appear on bestseller lists, like “The President is Missing” by former US President Bill Clinton and fiction author James Patterson. Its plot centers on a “devastating stealth wiper virus” called Dark Ages, likely a nod to recent real-world ransomware outbreaks. But this is entertainment, not a serious work of scholarship. If you are worrying about a cyberattack that can only be stopped by a superhero, you hopefully are reclined and sipping a piña colada, not thinking about actual IT security strategy.](https://www.acronis.com/en/blog/posts/summer-reading-list-president-missing/) [18 May 2018 — 3 min read Acronis Blog ![Image 11: For VARs and Service Providers, The Time Is Ripe to Help Customers with GDPR](https://staticfiles.acronis.com/images/blog-cover/30ed349a67c19cf8c26685d868f90f47.png) For VARs and Service Providers, The Time Is Ripe to Help Customers with GDPR GDPR, Europe’s imminent new privacy regulation, presents several urgent challenges to your business customers and prospects. This presents a great opportunity for you to improve their GDPR compliance posture with Acronis products and services. We’ve created a raft of GDPR educational and marketing materials to make your job easier.](https://www.acronis.com/en/blog/posts/vars-and-service-providers-time-ripe-help-customers-gdpr/) [19 April 2018 — 1 min read Acronis Blog ![Image 12: Your Biggest Threat To GDPR Compliance Might Be A Ransomware Breach](https://staticfiles.acronis.com/images/blog-cover/18a373b02d45b7c3ed01a5efacfff718.png) Your Biggest Threat To GDPR Compliance Might Be A Ransomware Breach When the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) comes into effect next month, organizations that handle the personal data of any EU citizens – whether you capture it yourself or process it on behalf of another company – will have to get much more serious about protecting it. That includes building robust defenses to protect against security breaches. Your GDPR compliance can depend on defending your EU customers’ personal data against ransomware. This Tale of Two Companies infographic explains why.](https://www.acronis.com/en/blog/posts/your-biggest-threat-gdpr-compliance-might-be-ransomware-breach/) [22 February 2018 — 4 min read Acronis Blog ![Image 13: Backups and the GDPR “right to be forgotten”: Recommendations](https://staticfiles.acronis.com/images/blog-cover/bd62a55daae50fdec0d6a6b238034607.png) Backups and the GDPR “right to be forgotten”: Recommendations (Part 2 of 2) With the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) officially taking effect on 25 May 2018, there are several questions regarding how the right to be forgotten affects personal data stored in backup archives. We explored these questions in part one of this series. Now we’ll look at how to address them.](https://www.acronis.com/en/blog/posts/backups-and-gdpr-right-be-forgotten-recommendations/) [1](https://www.acronis.com/en/blog/authors/james-slaby/page/1/) [2](https://www.acronis.com/en/blog/authors/james-slaby/page/2/) [3](https://www.acronis.com/en/blog/authors/james-slaby/page/3/) [4](https://www.acronis.com/en/blog/authors/james-slaby/page/4/)