The Story of Lungile Mhlanga
Since 2015, ransomware attacks have soared. According to experts, every 11 seconds, a different company somewhere in the world will be hit with ransomware. By the end of this year, the cost of ransomware attacks is estimated to be around $20 billion. This problem will only get worse as time goes on — unless companies take the proper action to protect their data. When cybercriminals gain access to a company’s data and encrypt it to prevent rightful owners from accessing files, they demand a ransom for it. Since many criminals threaten to post sensitive company data online if victims don’t pay the ransom, many company leaders may feel that paying is their only choice. However, this has proven only to embolden cybercriminals to up their ransoms in later perpetrations. As the ransoms go up, the more likely it is that ransomware will bankrupt more and more businesses. At the same time, the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Asset Controls (OFAC) added another wrinkle for companies hit with ransomware to deal with in October 2020. They issued an Advisory on Potential Sanctions Risks for Facilitating Ransomware Payments, which warned companies that they could be subject to fines for paying ransoms. The logic goes that many of these ransoms may go to countries or organizations that have it in mind to undermine the United States government, but since many cybercriminals use roving IP addresses, no company can know for sure where the ransom is going — and they could still have to pay a fine. So, embattled on both sides by cybercriminals and the U.S. government, companies are left to set up their own protections. The best defenses against ransomware include developing and testing their backup data so that it will fully restore any systems encrypted by ransomware and ensuring that their data at rest is encrypted as well. One way to make sure that backed up data hasn’t been compromised is by running it through a hash algorithm, which will notify companies if even one character of their data has been changed. For any questions or concerns on how to financially protect your company against ransomware attacks, you can contact Risk Services of Arkansas through our website at INSURICA.com/contact-us.
THE FOUNDER OF TREATS CLUB
Following your passion can take you to some pretty unexpected places, but few entrepreneurs can personally attest to that as well as Lungile Mhlanga, the founder of Treats Club. This innovative company offers a unique approach to getting customers freshly baked goods, even when COVID-19 spread across the world. During college, Mhlanga had a part-time job as a makeup consultant with Benefit Cosmetics. She loved this work so much that she dropped out of college to work there full time. A few years later, she took a position working for MAC Cosmetics at Harrods, a famous London department store. Honing her customer service skills, she soon ended up becoming a manager and trainer for MAC, working in Dubai, the Middle East, and India. After she quit her job at MAC, Mhlanga found herself back in London, wondering what to do next. She recalled the praise she had received for some of her baked goods, and that was when her foray into the baking business started. Mhlanga began posting some of her baked goods on Instagram, even scoring her former employer, MAC Cosmetics, as a corporate customer. Then, as fortune would have it, she got a chance to go on “An Extra Slice,” a sister TV show to the popular series “The Great British Bake Off.” On the show, Mhlanga was selected as “star baker,” validating her desire to turn her passion for baking into a “proper business.” And so, Treats Club was born. Mhlanga made tasty treats, including hot doughnuts, for customers at markets all over London — and not even a pandemic could stop her. Mhlanga simply pivoted into her new circumstances without much fuss, putting together kits that customers could use to make her hot doughnuts themselves. After being featured on popular morning TV show “Sunday Brunch,” she had over 200 orders for the kits. Mhlanga continues to gain notoriety for her baking prowess, and as long as she’s willing to adapt and follow her passions, that success won’t stop anytime soon.
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