Imagine this: it’s Monday morning. You arrive at the office like usual with coffee in hand. You log into your computer, get to work, and notice something strange…
There’s an email seemingly from your boss telling you to transfer a large amount of bitcoin to a wallet, or they’ll revoke your access to the company files.
It’s clearly a business email compromise, so you forward it to the cybersecurity department and forget about it.
Fifteen minutes later, the database goes down and every single file looks corrupted.
Another email appears. Pay up, or those files stay encrypted.
Congratulations! You just joined the 69 percent of American businesses that will face a ransomware attack this year. If only there was something that could have prevented it.
As it turns out, there is. Here are five things that can help protect against a ransomware attack.
5 Things That Can Prevent a Ransomware Attack
Ransomware attacks take place every 11 seconds worldwide, yet fewer than a quarter of SMBs have defenses in place. Here are five things that can prevent a ransomware attack.
1. A Strong Incident Response & Disaster Recovery Plan
An incident response plan is a set of instructions to guide your IT team and employees in the event of an attack. It should cover steps to detect incidents, isolate affected machines or accounts, protect backups, and analyze incident-related information.
A disaster recovery plan can help your company bounce back from incidents quickly. It should cover how to keep your most critical business functions running until operations can return to normal.
2. Maintained Network Security Infrastructure
Keeping things maintained is one of the single best strategies for mitigating all types of attacks, not just ransomware. Use network security infrastructure best practices, including:
- Antivirus and firewall
- Segmented networks
- Modern servers and operating systems
- Two-step authentication
3. Robust Backup Solutions
Ransomware is most effective when a company lacks backups of its most critical files because when you have a solid backup solution in place, cybercriminals lose the leverage they have.
We recommend using multi-tiered backups and offline backups. Multi-tiered backups support file synchronization and make it easy for users to access them anywhere. Offline backups cannot be touched by criminals on the internet, making them very secure.
4. Well-Trained Staff
All of the best security measures in the world won’t help you if your staff aren’t aware of security best practices. Take the time to train your staff about the dangers of ransomware. That should include not just how to spot a threat, but what steps to take every day to ensure that the company’s data – and their user accounts – stay safe.
5. Knowing Who to Call
When disaster strikes, time is of the essence because the longer you wait, the more time criminals have to wreak havoc on your business. Part of your incident response plan should include contact information for professionals who know how to handle these events.
Prepare Now and Never Wake Up to This. We Can Help.
According to the New York Times, ransomware attacks have risen dramatically in the past five years, and so have the payouts. The average ransomware payment now tops $84,000 – bringing only a 15 percent chance that you’ll even get your files back.
Don’t panic! Ransomware prevention and remediation are within reach. Contact us to start a conversation.
