Ransomware cyberattacks are a big business, so big in fact, that research anticipates a business is attacked by a cybercriminal every 11 seconds and damage costs from these attacks will hit around $20 billion by 2021. Small businesses are being crippled and hospitals were forced to turn away patients. These events were blamed on ransomware in which entire computer networks shut down. The hackers then demanded colossal amounts of money to have them running again. Hackers push their victims to the brink by posting sensitive data to affirm their threats. This is bound to be calamitous and victims may be forced to either pay up or close down. At least three-quarters of ransomware end up in data being encrypted. In the last year alone, 51% of businesses were affected by ransomware. Most of these attacks resulted in data being encrypted. At least 26% of the victims paid a ransom to get their data back. 26% of victims whose data was encrypted got their data back by paying the ransom. A few of those who paid the ransom did not get their data back. However, 95% of businesses that paid the ransom got back their information.
So how do you stop this from happening to your business? We have effective tools that will stop this in its’ track. Here are some of the measures we take to protect your business….
Identify Ransomware Behavior: Organizations can identify ransomware behavior by installing ransomware protection software. Ransomware can be traced because they have observable patterns. Once these are detected, they can be blocked.
One way is to develop a snare such as files that seem real to them. The cybercriminal is triggered and will most likely come after the bait. However, this measure only works to reveal the hackers’ scheme.
Backing Your Systems Up: A system backup saves you a lot of grief if your data should you lose your data or get hacked. Have it backed up both on the cloud as well as locally. It is a convenient way of ensuring you’re your sensitive data does not fall into the hands of cybercriminals.
Should a ransomware virus hit your system, the backups allow you to clean up the affected system. Then you can repair it with your updated backup data. Backing your data up in the cloud offers further protection.
Restricting Access to Your Data: This is done through network segregation and is important for all kinds of cyber threats. When access to data is restricted, even cybercriminals are not able to get to it easily. Segregating network safeguards data in the event of a ransomware virus attack.
Anti-Malware/ Anti-Ransomware Software: The anti-virus in place may not have all the necessary features to catch and remove ransomware. The best security software is threefold. It contains anti-virus, anti-malware, and anti-ransomware protection. These must be routinely updated and reviewed.
Disable Vulnerable Plug-ins: Plug-ins such as flash offer an easy pathway for hackers to corrupt your system. They can use them to launch an attack and infect your system. This renders all your data vulnerable and it can be used to extort funds from you. Updating your plug-ins regularly is crucial to prevent your system from virus attacks.
File Extensions: All documents should include relevant viewable file extensions from trusted sources. It is necessary to protect the system from downloading inconsequential documents that may be coming in from suspicious sources.
Ransomware Awareness in the Workplace: Human error is to blame for most ransomware virus attacks. The solution is to ensure the employees are aware and sufficiently trained to prevent and handle it. Workers must be aware of the many hacking techniques that exist.
