BUSINESS CRIME & PROTECTION
The need to protect against ransomware
By Joe Bridgeman, Sales Director at Cloud Central
1. EDUCATION First and foremost, education is essential to protect your business against ransomware. It is critical that your staff understands what ransomware is and the threats that it poses. Provide your team with specific examples of suspicious
emails with clear instructions on what to do if they encounter a potential ransomware lure and conduct bi- annual formal training to inform staff about the risk of ransomware and other cyber threats. When new employees join the team, make sure you
bring them up to date about cyber best practices. Lastly, keep staff updated as new ransomware enters the market or changes over time.
2. SECURITY Antivirus software should be considered essential for any business to protect against ransomware and other risks. Ensure your security software is up to date in order to protect against newly-identified threats. Some antivirus software products offer ransomware-
With the amount of ransomware cases seeming to increase every day, it is imperative for organisations to address this ever-growing business risk
THE FACTS The alarming findings from the Datto European State of the Channel Ransomware Report pin-point that ransomware attacks are climbing highest in Europe.
• Eighty-four per cent of MSPs (managed service provider) reported ransomware attacks against SMB customers, in the first six months of 2018 alone.
• Ninety-two per cent of MSPs predict the number of ransomware attacks will continue at current, or worse, rates.
• Forty-two per cent of MSPs report clients suffered multiple attacks in the same day.
• Top delivery methods include 50% Phishing emails, 44% malicious websites and 16% reported clickbait (content whose main purpose is to attract attention and encourage visitors to click on a link to a particular web page).
• Top cyber security vulnerabilities include 42% report lack of end user cyber security training, 34% report poor user practices/gullibility, 19% report weak passwords/access management.
• The cost of downtime is on average twelve times higher than the requested ransom.
• Twenty-four per cent of MSPs have reported ransomware has also crept into SaaS applications.
Cyber criminals armed with ransomware are formidable
adversaries. While small-to-mid-sized businesses aren’t specifically targeted in ransomware campaigns, they may be more likely to suffer an attack. Frequently, small business IT teams are stretched thin
and, in some cases, rely on outdated technology due to budgetary constraints. This is the perfect storm for ransomware vulnerability. Thankfully, there are tried and true ways to protect your business against ransomware attacks.
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specific functionality, offering technology that monitors systems to detect malicious activities such as file extension or registry changes. If ransomware is detected, the software has the ability to block it and alert users. However, because ransomware is constantly evolving, even the best security software can be breached. This is why a secondary layer of defence is critical for businesses to ensure recovery in case malware strikes (backup).
3. BACKUP Modern total data protection solutions take snapshot- based, incremental backups as frequently as every five minutes to create a series of recovery points. If your business suffers a ransomware attack, this
technology allows you to roll-back your data to a point in time before the corruption occurred. When it comes to ransomware, the benefit of this is two-fold. First, you don’t need to pay the ransom to get your data back. Second, since you are restoring to a point in time before the ransomware infected your systems, you can be certain everything is clean and the malware cannot be triggered again.
Certain business-saving technology virtualises systems
either locally or remotely in a secure cloud within seconds. These solutions ensure that businesses stay up and running when disaster strikes. Are you prepared for this challenge?
FEATURE
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