The threat of a cyber-attack is far more dangerous now than it has been in the past, yet knowledge of the threat prevention systems necessary to protect oneself remain widely unknown.

Ransomware, in particular, has exploded as a problem. The frequency of such attacks is up almost 200% in the past two years.

Severity is up, too — the average ransom demand has surged from roughly $10,000 to well north of $100,000.

Combine those two issues, and ransomware is many times as big a problem for clients and insurers as it was two years ago.

Unless companies create more sophisticated protection systems, the problem will become even worse. Hackers are more astute, increasingly have access to inexpensive tools and have greatly expanded how and what they attack.