Ransomware can wreak havoc on your organization and leave lasting impacts on your bottom line. This guide breaks down everything you need to know about these attacks and practical ransomware prevention strategies to protect your business.
What Is Ransomware?
Ransomware is software designed to limit or block users from accessing their systems through encryption until the organization pays a ransom. In some cases, the cybercriminals responsible for the attack will threaten to publish sensitive information or damage mission-critical files to get their target organization to pay.
Ransomware attacks have skyrocketed over the last few years. In 2021 alone, ransomware actors successfully received payments totaling more than $760 million from vulnerable businesses.
Common Ransomware Attack Vectors
The first step in protecting your organization is to learn more about the common ransomware attack vectors — or pathways — bad actors use to access and exploit your sensitive data.
- Phishing: Phishing is a social engineering tactic. Criminals impersonate trustworthy businesses to trick people into downloading malware onto their devices.
- Software vulnerabilities: Many ransomware cases begin with a gap, weakness or flaw in an organization’s software systems. Hackers use advanced scanning tools to access a particular environment and roll out the rest of their attack from there.
- Brute-force attacks: Cybercriminals use special software that inputs credentials into a system until they find a username/password pairing that grants them access.
- Compromised credentials: Another method hackers use to access an organization’s applications or network is leaked credentials, either from another cyberattack or poor password hygiene.
- Legitimate credentials: Ransomware attacks can also begin with an employee with authorized access to your organizational systems in an act of malfeasance.
Dangers of a Ransomware Attack
Every organization should take the threat of a ransomware attack seriously. The results of a breach can devastate a business and its reputation. Some of the dangers of a ransomware attack include the following.
- Never recovering your data: There is no guarantee that a ransomware actor will unencrypt your data, even if you pay the money they demand. Some victims never recover their files.
- Difficult data recovery: Getting access to your files can sometimes be impossible without help from a third-party expert. Your business may have to pay additional fees to get your data back, and there is no promise that the data will be intact.
- Costly operational downtime: An attack can disrupt your organization’s day-to-day activities, causing you to lose more money.
- Distrust among the public: Another significant danger of a ransomware attack is compromised customer or client data, adversely affecting public perception of your business.
4 Tips to Secure Your Business From Ransomware
Your organization can protect itself against cybercriminals looking to exploit your data and demand payment. With preparation and insight, you can equip your software solutions and workforce with the necessary tools to combat attacks and preserve your sensitive information.
Explore these tips for how to prevent ransomware attacks.
1. Prioritize Employee Education and Training
Cybersecurity must be a team effort. It only takes one bad apple to compromise access to your data. Prioritize employee education and training to ensure each person on your team understands the detrimental consequences of an attack.
Having your team participate in regular training sessions that promote awareness of standard social engineering techniques is highly advantageous. They should understand how to identify and report phishing attempts as they encounter them.
In addition to training programs, your organization can share resources outlining security protocols with each team member. Include best practices for data handling and network usage to ensure they are up to date on all things cybersecurity.
2. Implement Robust Cybersecurity Measures
All businesses should implement robust cybersecurity measures, especially identity and access management solutions. IAM tools are fundamental for today’s cyber landscape because they give organizations additional control over who has access to their systems and sensitive information.
IAM solutions offer dynamic authentication, authorization and user management tools. Strict control over access, creating robust user passwords and implementing multifactor authentication are the building blocks of a secure digital environment.
In addition to access management, your business should invest in effective firewall, antivirus and anti-malware solutions. The best way to get started is to conduct a comprehensive risk assessment to secure any existing vulnerabilities.
3. Perform Regular Data Backups
With the rise of ransomware attacks, performing regular and secure data backups has never been more critical. Your business’ data backups will be essential for continuing operations in an attack.
One of the best ways to ensure your organization regularly backs up its data is to implement automated tools that do the work for you. Storing your data backups in on-premise and cloud solutions is a savvy strategy. We recommend keeping at least one copy of your information off-site.
4. Create an Incident Response and Recovery Plan
Another helpful tip for businesses looking to protect themselves is to create an incident report response and recovery plan in case a ransomware attack strikes. This plan can be a lifeline during a breach, allowing your business to continue operations.
Once you identify a ransomware attack on your business, take the following steps in an effective incident response and recovery plan.
- Isolation and containment: First, separate the impacted and healthy systems. Shutting down the compromised systems can halt the attack and keep bad actors from exploiting more of your data.
- Mitigation: The next goal should be to limit the ransomware attack’s impact. Switching to your data backups will let you continue operations despite the attack.
With a comprehensive backup and recovery plan, you can reduce the time and energy required to get your daily operations back to normal.
Protect Your Business With Technology Solutions From Optimal IdM
When your business or organization needs protection against ransomware attacks, turn to the identity management solutions from Optimal IdM.
We are a innovative and award-winning IAM provider that understands how critical effective cybersecurity measures are. When you choose us, we partner with you to secure your data with our cloud solutions. Our customer service team is available 24/7/365, so you have support whenever you need it.
Are you ready to protect your organization with innovative technology from Optimal IdM? Get your 30-day free trial now!
