As the Centre for Cyber Security Belgium states, incidences of ransomware attacks have been on the rise over the last few years. NotPetya and WannaCry are two examples of how the effects of a successful attack can paralyse an organisation, with Anatova affecting the Benelux region in early 2020.
The view that a ransomware attack is no longer a possibility, but rather an inevitability is shared by many. And, with the wide-reaching security effects of work-from-home policies being felt across industries, ensuring both your data assets and employees stay resilient remains a key challenge.
In an age defined by the fragmentation of assets, below we look at ways you can achieve ransomware resilience.
Securing Your Data
As attackers increasingly turn to malware as the go-to for cyber-attacks, protecting mission-critical data remains the key cause for concern for organisations. As organisations increasingly turn to cloud environments for data storage, securing your data estate is the first step in the proactive fight against ransomware.
Data audits are a great way to understand how much data you have, what’s inside, and who has access to it. By inviting an external party to evaluate the scope and reach of your data estate, you can easily identify what preparations need to be made in order to keep it secured.
Stay Active to Keep Your Security Policies in Good Health
Part of the challenge in protecting yourself against a ransomware attack is the increasing level of fragmentation seen in organisations. Hybrid-cloud environments bring increased flexibility to the workplace, but also remain a can of worms from a security perspective.
Leveraging tools that give you a connected view of all of your data can help to identify vulnerabilities in your organisation. By actively addressing vulnerabilities and employing regular security checks, you can reduce the probability of a successful ransomware attack.
Back-up, Back-up, and Back-up Again
As a general rule of thumb, using the 3-2-1 rule to back-up your data remains a great way to ensure redundancy in the event of a successful ransomware attack. That is, to keep at least three copies of your data, on at least two devices, with at least one off-site copy.
Keeping each backup isolated from one another is vital for ensuring the fidelity of your data. Should an attack occur with a backup stored on the same system, you run the risk of corrupting both data sets rendering the whole back-up exercise useless.
Practice Makes Perfect
Deploying solutions for network monitoring, threat intelligence, and endpoint protection on top of regular recovery rehearsals is key in the fight against ransomware attacks. By ensuring your organisation understands the role it plays in proactive anti-ransomware security, you can limit the effect an attack has on your business activities.
Some steps you can take to educate your team include, but are not limited to:
- Disconnecting an infected machine from the network and any external drives
- Taking a picture or noting down what the ransom note says
- Notifying the IT department should an attack occur, relaying any information to the appropriate party
Fear the Attack, Not the Preparation
Successful ransomware attacks can cost an organisation a lot of money, not including money lost due to disruptions to business operations. It’s important to emphasise recovery when training your organisation to prepare against ransomware, rather than the potential costs.
The fear factor associated with a successful attack can cause employees to delay reporting an infected machine. Instead, conduct training and awareness sessions in a period of calm to ensure level-headedness in the event of an actual attack.
By keeping calm and addressing any vulnerabilities proactively, you not only ensure the health of your system but also the appropriate response from both your IT team and regular employees.
Learn more about securing your mission-critical assets at the Benelux Virtual Cyber Summit on 22nd-23rd September! Join expert speakers from the likes of Hikvision, Bank Inter, and more for FREE when you register with code BENELUXVIP at benelux.cyberseries.io
