The attacks by Ransomware are well established as a legitimate threat, yet until now they haven’t been treated seriously. Prevention of a problem that may or could not occur was not regarded as a decent IT or investment in security because of expense and blind confidence that “this would not occur.” This attitude is like taking an insurance policy, of course, — until something wrong happens, you don’t notice the benefits.
Moving to the year in which the global pandemic took over our lives. Ransomware assaults have become more frequent than ever before and during the previous year, they have risen by almost 700 percent. Cybercriminals are extorting organizations with ransomware variants such as STOP (DJVU), Dharma, Phobos, Globelmposter, REvil, GandCrab, Magniber, and Scarab.
A Potentially Hazardous Risk: Ransomware Attacks
A ransomware attack can prove to be devastating in many ways. This can cost over one million dollars on average. An assault can take the victim organization five to 10 days offline, adding to the loss of output and losses by millions more. The staff is not paid. The benefits of insurance do not materialize. Overnight, a company can simply go insolvent. Attacks from Ransomware may take a whole corporation down overnight.
For businesses in some areas, such as the growing list of healthcare facilities that have had ransomware attacks this year. Such attacks can have repercussions resulting in life or death for someone. Ransomware threatens the well-being of medical patients in healthcare because they cannot be adequately treated without operating systems. Health service providers have a lot to do with COVID-19; add in the threat of ransomware and they have too much on their plate to handle.
There is no evidence of lowering the rate of Ransomware attacks, thus businesses must urgently invest in endpoint detection and response solutions before they become the next victim.
How to Safeguard Yourself from Ransomware Attacks
Companies are running out of time to pay the recognition that ransomware craves for. You can protect your organization against potential ransomware attacks before they arise by taking the appropriate safeguards. There are four crucial methods to safeguard your company from ransomware.
Determine Risk and Exposure of Ransomware Attack
You must discover every flaw in your organization’s systems to provide the basis for a secure enterprise network.
By doing a vulnerability audit and assessment, you may most effectively identify vulnerabilities and exposure points of your system. To do so, tools like Nemasis -VMS can be used with simulated social engineering approaches to execute white and/or grey box tests to assess your company’s security posture.
A longer-term vulnerability management program can be developed with a deeper understanding of the flaws of your organization’s network. Your program should contain regular security scans, real-time alerts to find new vulnerabilities, and regular vulnerability evaluations. These and other preventative steps assist you to identify evaluate and rectify security vulnerabilities in your IT environment continually.
Authorize Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR)
The key to effective ransomware prevention, which is more relevant to the current day scenario if the majority of your company’s employees work from home, is endpoint detection and response (EDR). If the home networks are not secure, the risk of remote endpoints such as laptops, cellular, and other devices would increase significantly. There are also endpoints at risk in the data center and cloud.
Deficiencies in end-points often expose organizations t ransomware assaults like Locky, WannaCry, and Troldesh, to many different ransomware threats.
Whatever the amount of trust we have in our staff to remember cybersecurity threats can be disastrous, a wrong click or infected file can lead to a ransomware attack. This makes the protection of endpoints vital. A comprehensive endpoint protection technology should be used to manage and analyze endpoints security as well as malware, round the clock. A quality solution should also utilize advanced algorithms to recognize and contain cybercriminal activities and employ next-generation security technologies.
Effectively establishing EDR takes your cybersecurity beyond traditional anti-virus and threat detection technologies that have little or no chance against more sophisticated ransomware attacks. It makes a successful ransomware attack almost impossible if the organization has invested in an updated EDR system.
Cybercriminals who perform ransomware assaults are timely. Most attacks tend to take place on the weekend. A ransomware assault, for example, may set off at 2 a.m. on Sunday. Logically, the attack runs to collect masses of data until Sunday evening. Firsthand horror stories have been heard from IT teams who were forced to spend their Sunday dealing with the immediate repercussions of the attack from ransomware and discussing if they were paying the cybercriminals in bitcoin since the attack had gone too far.
Due to the fact that a ransomware assault can occur at any time, it is essential to deploy a team of 24/7 SOCs to monitor your environment. SOC teams maintain an eye on your IT environment, to avoid potential assaults and react rapidly in the case of an assault, irrespective of the fact that they are employed internally or outsourced.
Consult a Managed Service Provider (MSP)
At a time of limited IT resources and increasing ransomware assaults, a managed service provider (MSP) or managed security service provider (MSSP) can keep you secured at an affordable price. Partnering with an MSSP or MSP will also assist you to overcome your existing lack of cybersecurity skills by saving on the high cost of recruiting security professionals.
An MSP provides you with a team of security experts. Many MSPs have decades of expertise with ransomware and have led other firms past cyber assaults. MSPs also save time and research in identifying the best protective ransomware technology to fit your business network’s specific demands. Most MSPs are in cooperation with important technology vendors and can help your organization, including an EDR system, discover the proper security solution. MSP’s can also handle EDR to prevent ransomware attacks so that your staff can work smarter and not harder.
Make the choice – Invest in Proactive Protection or Pay the Price of Reactivity
It’s not an issue of whether you’re going to experience a ransomware attack at this point; it’s about when. Ask yourself, you’d rather spend in protecting yourself against a catastrophic incident and respond to your board members that you are capable of responding to a ransomware attack? So ask yourself. Or would you like to roll over your bill and take the risk to pay a thousand or even millions of cybercriminals to restore your business systems one Sunday afternoon? You have the choice.
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