Ransomware attacks are increasing. From big businesses to small-town governments, everyone is now being targeted by criminal enterprises that seek to penetrate secure systems and only release control of them once their demands are met. Despite the combined efforts of international law, these attacks increase every day. What can your business do to protect itself?
First, make sure you stay on top of your backups and recovery. Being able to restore to a non-corrupted state is one of the strongest tools available against a ransomware attack. A business that has a robust disaster recovery plan can disconnect from the internet, roll back to a non-corrupted state, and restore operations while waiting for the vulnerability to be addressed before resuming normal operations. Be aware that traditional anti-virus and/or anti-malware solutions may not be up to the task of defending against ransomware attacks. Prevention is the best cure.
Also, make sure that your employees are following best practices. Spam emails, corrupted social media posts, and even trojan horse websites that resemble legitimate sites can all be vectors for ransomware attacks. Make sure your employees are aware of the risks and are following secure practices both in the office and abroad.
If you have already been infected, firewalls and network segmentation become key. The ability to restrict ransomware to only an isolated portion of your network can limit the exposure and potential damage that can be posed to your enterprise. Limiting the exposure to ransomware and keeping attacks away from the critical parts of your business is the ideal circumstance after a ransomware attack has successfully infected your infrastructure.
NSC Information Technology Group has experts in both avoiding and dealing with ransomware attacks. If you have concerns about your company’s vulnerability to ransomware attacks, contact NSC Information Technology Group today and begin securing your company’s future.