Cybercrime is on the increase, as is the use of ransomware to hold deny companies access to their own information — until they fork over a ransom payment. Surprisingly enough, however, experts have identified human resources personnel as a potential source of defensive tactics to keep company data from being held hostage.

According to the Society for Human Research Management (SHRM), HR professionals can not only be vulnerable to security breaches, but they can form a line of defense to keep sensitive information out of the hands of cybercriminals. That’s increasingly important, since the number of attacks, including ransomware fraud, is on the rise and likely to continue.

SHRM cited the Verizon 2016 Data Breach Investigations Report’s tracking of ransomware fraud on companies: 144 cases in 2015, up from 133 in 2014, and just 22 in 2013. In addition, cyberattackers are using a range of other techniques, such as phishing e-mails or texts that trick employees into clicking on links that lead to websites infected with malicious software. The crooks then convert any information they steal into cash or other commodities.