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technology It’s dangerous to underestimate the


evolving threat of ransomware You’ve probably heard their names – ominous titles like CryptoLocker, Crysis, WannaCry and Cerber. You may know that viruses lurk in suspicious attachments and downloads, putting users a click away from disaster – but the true scale and the potentially devastating consequences of ransomware are dangerous to underestimate


Estimates of the cost to businesses of this evolving malware threat can vary wildly – often because companies that have fallen victim to attacks keep it under wraps to protect their reputations. However, research reported by IT industry news outlet ITProPortal last year suggested 40% of UK companies had fallen victim to an attack and put the cost at a staggering £346 million – not just made up of the ransom demands but also taking into account the cost of downtime, data recovery costs and damage to reputation.


In one of the most high-profile attacks of recent times, global aluminium producer Norsk Hydro fell victim to an attack that hit 22,000 computers across 170 sites in 40 countries. The company was widely praised for refusing to pay the ransom demand, but the cost of lost revenue and disaster recovery has so far been put at £45m. The stance taken by Norsk Hydro may be admirable, but the cost is still dear, and not all businesses will be resilient enough to follow suit.


As cloud-based systems and data handling become the norm in business – bringing with them huge benefits in terms of flexibility, efficiency and versatility – it can be tempting to think that platforms such as Office 365 and Google’s G Suite of applications are a stronghold against attackers.


Microsoft and Google do indeed provide strong capabilities to help protect customer data, but it is a myth that they are invulnerable. As the fastest-growing solutions, cloud-based systems are a primary target for cybercriminals, so users must take all reasonable measures to protect themselves.


It comes down to prevention and cure – taking all possible measures to resist attacks in the first place, and having strong backup systems to ensure the fastest possible recovery if the worst happens.


Training and staff advice


Research* commissioned by Aura Technology recently found that 49% of office workers are visiting sites or opening email attachments that could cause a virus, malware or ransomware,


12 businessmag.co.uk Tim Walker and Sir Clive Woodward THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE – NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2019


and that 29% admitted to having already caused such a breach by accident.


Education is essential to protect your business against ransomware. It is critical that your staff understand 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 (for example, don’t open attachments, and if you see something, say something). Conduct formal training to inform staff about the risk of ransomware and other cyber threats. When new employees join the team, make sure you send them an email to bring them up to date about cyber best practices. It is important to ensure that the message is communicated clearly to everyone in the organisation, not passed around on a word of mouth basis. Lastly, keep staff updated as new ransomware enters the market or changes over time.


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 to protect against newly identified threats. Keep all business applications patched and updated in order to minimise vulnerabilities. Some antivirus software


products offer ransomware-specific functionality.


However, because ransomware is constantly evolving, even the best security software can be breached. A secondary layer of defence is critical for businesses to ensure recovery in case malware strikes – and that’s where backup comes in.


Backup


Modern total data protection solutions, like Datto, a key Aura Technology partner, 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.


Strategic IT, robust security


Sir Clive Woodward, on the board of Aura Technology as a non-executive director, believes it is the responsibility of chief executives and business leaders to understand their organisation’s IT


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