The Best Defense Against Ransomware
Ransomware has been striking businesses of all sizes impacting their infrastructures. In the past three months, cybercriminals have successfully attacked six major cities. In each case, the attack brought great inconvenience to the victims. The city of Baltimore was hit weeks ago and is still trying to recover from the ransomware attack.
You may receive questions on how you can protect your data from being encrypted by cybercriminals. Here are some ways to detect the beginning of a ransomware attack, prevent it from spreading, and protect yourself from cyberattacks.
How to detect a ransomware attack
Some of the telltale signs of a ransomware attack include:
- Systems seem to have slowed down. As the ransomware starts to encrypt your files, it will slow down your system. When you start to notice your system slowing down, take precaution, and check file shares for anomalies.
- Users receive a message like the following when opening their files:
If you receive a similar message when trying to access files that you had access to previously, it can be that the file was encrypted by ransomware. Users should report this to their MSP immediately.
- Some users are locked out of their systems: This can be an early sign that the ransomware has encrypted your system.
How to stop ransomware from spreading to your entire network
If you suspect that a ransomware attack has occurred, perform the following actions to ensure the attack is contained and does not further spread in your network, or worse, spread through your connection to other networks.
- Stop the infection from spreading by disconnecting all computers from the network.
- Stop backing up immediately to ensure the ransomware doesn’t compromise your backup data.
- Investigate the source of the attack and isolate it from the rest of the network.
Depending on the strand and speed of the ransomware attack, it is possible to contain the attack before your environment is fully infected. However, it is not an easy task. The best protection is prevention. Prevent a ransomware attack by deploying a multi-layered security strategy to ensure your customers are well-protected.
Deploy a multi-layered security strategy against ransomware
Cybercriminals are becoming increasingly savvy with their ransomware attacks. While knowing the telltale signs of a cyberattack can help you and your customers contain an attack and limit the damage it can do to your organization, it is always best to be proactive and take preventive measures to protect your company from becoming a victim in the first place. A sound multi-layered security strategy should include the following:
- Security awareness training: Cybercriminals are more sophisticated with account spoofing and account takeover. Educate your employees in order to avoid unnecessary link-clicking and attachment opening from unknown senders.
- Security software: There are many antivirus software and email security solutions available to give you the extra defense to fight ransomware and spam emails that may contain malicious attachments/links.
- Backup solutions: Ensure you have a backup of your data using a solution that can address malware in backups. These solutions should have the ability to prevent ransomware by filtering out malware from getting to the backups or to notify you if there are anomalies occurring in the backup.
- Patch management: Be rigorous about staying up to date with your patches, as many third-party software are commonly used as the exploit for ransomware attacks. Third-party vendors issue regular security updates to ensure that their software is not the cause of cyberattacks for their customers.
How can BCS help you prevent a ransomware attack?
BCS can remotely manage IT infrastructure for a variety of customers. With the growth of cyberattacks, BCS has the expertise, the right tools, and skillset to ensure we can protect you from a cyberattack.
We offer services such as continuous monitoring, security, patch management, business continuity and disaster recovery, and 24/7 Network Operations Center (NOC) to protect you from cyberattacks.
Don’t become a victim of ransomware. To learn how BCS can prevent these attacks, call us at 781-871-0700, email info@bcservices.net or click here.