Ransomware is a type of malware designed to deny access to some or all of an organization’s data. The cyber criminals encrypt your data making them inaccessible without a special decryption key. By locking these files and demanding a ransom payment to “unlock” the precious data, these malware put companies in a position where paying the ransom is potentially the only way to regain access to company data.
You’ve seen it in recent headlines; Ransomware Surge Ruining Lives; the threat is real and is top of mind for businesses of all sizes scrambling for ransomware recovery services. The good news is that you do not have to face the challenge of the latest cyber threats alone. Let us help you protect your business through ransomware prevention.
Cybercriminals have become increasingly sophisticated in their attacks. Often targeting specific individuals, the most common way an attacker will gain access to your environment is through your e-mail inbox. Through social engineering methods, cybercriminals pose as familiar people; maybe a co-worker or a boss. And if they can entice you to click on a malicious link in an e-mail message, they’ve won the battle and have been let in the front door.
Once they are inside your network, most attackers are in no rush to let you know. They’ll spend time, weeks or months in some cases, mining your data for anything of value. Cybercriminals will attempt to find and capture personal information such as names, credit card information, social security, or driver’s license data. This ‘dwell time’ can be as damaging as the final act which is to encrypt everything and extort a ransom in return for your data.
The best offense is a good defense and part of that is making sure your workforce is savvy enough to avoid stepping into these traps. Our security awareness training is ongoing and an important part of our HealthyIT program.
Cybercriminals are feverishly gaining in sophistication. Mitigating cybersecurity risk is a monumental challenge requiring rapid threat detection and incident response capabilities. To minimize cybersecurity risk, being able to identify and respond to attacks quickly is essential. CompuWorks delivers the expertise, technology, and cyber offensive intelligence required to hunt for threats across your company’s networks and endpoints and help shut them down before they cause disruption and irreparable damage.
Your data is one of your most valuable assets and protecting it, both from system failure and from cybercriminals is a critical part of any well-planned technology environment. HealthyIT clients are backed up with a state-of-the-art system that provides the ability to almost instantly recover from a serious hardware failure, site disaster, or cyber attack.
How to recover from a disaster
We help you invest in new security technologies to protect your organization better, or we can help manage and monitor existing systems. Our extensive security expertise and knowledge of getting the most from the latest tools means we are well-positioned to support your needs.
How we keep you secure"CompuWorks has been assisting me with my company’s IT needs since the ’90s. As my needs grew CompuWorks was there to assist me with a strategy for my IT growth. Initially, I would need them to fix problems. Which they did. Now I need them for strategic planning on everything from hardware purchases to long-range business IT planning. Here is the net of it all for me. My business under the eye of CompuWorks has never been down. The Healthy IT platform they have me on has allowed my company to always deliver for our clients. It also relieves my staff of IT issues that can lead to far more work in an already challenging work environment."
Attackers initially targeted individuals but later went after the big fish to go after the big bucks.
A. Ransomware is a type of malicious attack that encrypts files on an infected device or network, preventing them from being accessed until a ransom is paid.
A. The impacts of ransomware can be significant and include loss of data and downtime which can cause business interruption or shut down. Loss of business combined with costs associated with remediation along with any payment of ransom can cause financial losses which in some cases can be substantial.
A. Permanent loss of data is the most significant risk. Paying the ransom is no guarantee that your data will be restored. In recent years approximately 1 in 5 small businesses who suffered a ransomware attack and paid the ransom never recovered their data.
A. In most cases ransomware attacks are initiated by a phishing or spear-phishing e-mail message. These e-mail messages appear to be legitimate but instead, contain a link to the attacker’s malicious software. By clicking on this link the user unknowingly opens the door to the attackers.
A. The profile of perpetrators of ransomware attacks-these malicious actors- is varied but they fall into several categories. These include cyber terrorists, government-sponsored actors, and cybercriminals. Most have a profit motive or seek to cause disruption for political or other gains.
A. If you are able to detect ransomware before it encrypts your data it may be possible to isolate and remove it. However, once it has encrypted your data your options are more limited. A good backup and disaster recovery system can allow you to recover to a point in time prior to the attack. If that fails, your options are to pay the ransom or live without the data.
A. Tools and technology can only go so far in protecting you from ransomware. A good e-mail filtering solution is the first step. But the single biggest thing you can do to prevent ransomware is to be educated. Security awareness training is essential in reducing the risk from these attacks and in quickly recognizing them when they occur.
A. Paying a ransom is never the first solution. Not only is this costly but paying ransom funds the criminals who perpetrate these crimes and may be used for other nefarious purposes. That being said, some businesses, when faced with what could be an existential threat choose to pay the ransom when it is their only alternative.
A. There is little you can do in this case. And while in the majority of cases data is restored, there are cases where the attackers disappear or even demand additional ransom.
