A Warwick company ’ s managing director is warning other businesses to protect themselves from cyber criminals after being held to ransom Attack.Ransom . Kettell Video Productions was targeted by tech scammers who infected its IT systems with viruses before demanding Attack.Ransom £1,000 in online currency Bitcoins or the files would be permanently deleted . Luckily , owner Stuart Kettell routinely backs up all his company ’ s systems so nothing was lost but he warned others to do the same to avoid disaster . “ It was scary : I had no idea about cyber-attacks before and really didn ’ t know what to do , ” he said . “ Critical files , including images and videos for clients , were wiped out along with a lifetime of personal memories . “ The affected files were lost for good – the only way to recover them was with the key code held by the blackmailer – but luckily I back-up everything to an external data cartridge . “ In the end it was more an inconvenience…but it could have threatened the business . “ I would strongly urge all business owners to back-up their essential files. ” Mr Kettell acted quickly when he realised the audio-visual specialists in Arlescote Close were under attack by the web sharks in December , 2015 . “ I noticed all my photos , videos and pdf files ghosting to white with a new filename… it attacked my desktop first then it wormed its way into folders one file at a time every few seconds , ” he said . “ I ’ ve no idea how the malware was introduced as we use software that ’ s designed to prevent against such attacks . “ And the demand for payment Attack.Ransom seemed very professional : I was given links where I could buy Bitcoins and even offered the chance to decrypt one file for free . “ I unplugged my computer , isolated it from the internet , and ran some anti-malware software to stop the virus spreading further. ” Latest figures from the Crime Survey for England & Wales estimated there were 1.3m computer virus offences and 667,000 hacking related offences committed in the year ending September 2016 . Sergeant Gary Sirrell from the cybercrime team at West Midlands Regional Organised Crime Unit said commercial web attacks are increasingly being committed against smaller firms and not big multi-nationals . “ Small and medium sized companies are easier targets : they often don ’ t have the resources or expertise to protect against cyberattacks , ” he said . “ And if they are targeted , the impact can be devastating . “ But there are steps business owners can take to mitigate the risk . “ A really effective tactic involves ‘ layering ’ defences to include a firewall , anti-malware software , staff training and regular re-training ) around phishing email awareness , and finally to plug Vulnerability-related.PatchVulnerability any holes in your defences by updating Vulnerability-related.PatchVulnerability software patches and updates Vulnerability-related.PatchVulnerability in a timely manner . “ By exercising good cyber hygiene , and having a strong backup policy , Stuart avoided the dilemma of whether to see his business significantly damaged , or to have to hand over a ransom Attack.Ransom to organised crime gangs to get his data unlocked . “ If more businesses in the West Midlands proactively took such steps there would be significantly fewer crimes victims . ”