By PennLive Editorial Board penned @ pennlive.com With news last week that Pennsylvania Senate Democrats ( along with about 11 other progressive groups ) had apparently fallen prey to an attack by Russian hackers , it 's tempting to ask if anyone is safe from the waking Great Bear . Democratic leaders have so far refused to meet the hackers ' ransom deman d or risk hav Attack.Ransom ing their data destroyed , The Associated Press reported . The bad news is that the attack is a visceral reminder that no computer network is totally immune to a takeover by determined cyber-terorrists . It 's also a reminder that the United States disregards this foreign threat at its peril . And it is one that is growing in its size and scope . Hackers launched 638 million ransomware a ttacks last year, Attack.Ransom at a cost of about $ 209 million , PennLive 's Wallace McKelvey reported Wednesday , citing data compiled by the security firm SonicWall . That was more than 167 times the 3.8 million attacks logged in 2015 . The short form is that you ca n't protect yourself from the most determined hackers , as former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and the Democratic National Committee learned during last year 's presidential campaign . And whether you 're a large corporation or just sitting in your local Starbucks pecking away on your laptop , the measures are essentially the same