The U.S. records at least 4,000 ransomware attacks each day. 

From shutting down schools to gas and meat shortages, the impact of these attacks is increasing for everyday people. 

The latest attack on Colonial Pipeline highlighted the industry’s vulnerability.

"When we look at the Colonial Pipeline, it's really kind of set the stage for a lot of these ransomware incidents," said Scott Schober, President & CEO of Berkeley Varitronics Systems. "The irony of the whole thing is it always goes back to to weak passwords and we all kind of laugh about that and say that, yeah, I know it's important to create a strong password."

There are multiple ways a ransomware attack can take place: Phishing attack, pop-up adds, lack of cybersecurity and malicious websites. 

In 2020, the total amount of ransom paid by victims reached nearly $400 million worth of cryptocurrency. 

"All these ransomware attacks are primarily paid with cryptocurrency, predominantly bitcoin, which is digital currency," added Mr. Schober. "It allows the bad guys, the cyber criminals and hackers to remain somewhat anonymous because it's hard to actually follow the money."

How do we capture the hackers? 

"They're anonymous as far as the network that they're accessing it, the payment method is anonymous, cryptocurrency and bitcoin. It makes it difficult," said Mr. Schober. "They're working in their underground empire, in the dark web that's encrypted and allows them to stay anonymous. And to add all that, they're sharing this information on the dark web."

Here's what you need to know about ransomware attacks and how you can protect yourself.