Ransomware is growing rapidly. It is a big system whose attacks are increasingly sophisticated, frequent, and complex to detect and recover from. Cyber-attacks have costly consequences for companies of all sizes. That’s why ransomware recovery is very vital for all organizations.
Furthermore, the damage that companies experience when they are the victims of data breaches can result in significant business downtime. It is difficult and costly to recovery, loss of confidential data, reputational damage, and legal ramifications. Advanced security requires immutability for this growing threat. So, the ability to quickly restore and maintain business continuity becomes critical to surviving cyberattacks. Plus, it minimizing data loss.
What is Ransomware?
Ransomware is a form of malware that encrypts a victim’s files. In this case, the attacker demands a ransom from the victim to restore access to the data after payment. Users are instructed on how to pay a fee to obtain the decryption key.
How Do Organizations Get Infected?
Ransomware attacks are real. No company or employee saves from a potential ransomware attack without security. It is important to understand how ransomware infects computers before discussing how to protect your business. Or what to do if it is compromised. Understanding the source and nature of the infection is harmful to any business.
Ransomware generally comes from one of two sources: compromised websites and email attachments. A legitimate website that has been compromised can host an exploit kit that infects any computer, usually through browser exploit. A phishing website can use the same method. In the case of a malicious email, hackers attach the virus to the email. So, when the user clicks on the file for downloading, then the user actually downloading a virus in their computer or device. This virus totally damages your whole system.
Important Points of Ransomware Recovery
- Keep Your Data Store Offline
In recent years, more and more ransomware attacks have become a business headline, and many companies are reconsidering and looking for different types of backup to protect their organizations from these growing threats. However, there are two types of backups. If your backup your data online, it could be hacked. On the other hand, local offline backups (backups that are stored in your organization’s physical space but are not connected to your organization’s electronic systems) are more secure and help you get back to normal faster if an attack occurs.
- Alert Your Whole Staff
Malware often enters a system when a user clicks on a fake email link. Alert every member of your team involved in enterprise securityto keep the business running offers one of the best defensive measures. Provide regular training on the latest phishing tricks and other social engineering tactics. This thing saves your company from ransomware attacks.
- Restore Data from Backup
The fastest way to restore from ransomware is to simply restore your system from a backup. For this method to work, you must have the latest version of the data and applications, which do not contain the ransomware you are currently infected with. Before restoring, make sure to remove the ransomware first. This is usually done by resetting the system to factory settings.
- Write-Once Storage Technology
Another way to protect backups is to use storage that cannot be overwritten. Use physical write once read many technologies (WORM) that allow writing but does not allow data modification. This will increase backup costs because it will take up more storage space. Some backup techniques only store changed and updated files, or use other deduplication techniques. It helps to prevent multiple copies of the same thing in the archive.
- Don’t Pay Ransom
Another way of protection is don’t decide to pay the ransom. Especially if you have saved a copy of data anywhere. If you don’t have your data saved, you must weigh the cost of data loss and the required payment. Remember, you are dealing with criminals. Paying the ransom does not guarantee that you will actually get your data back. Thus, if you pay the ransom and fulfill the demands of hackers, it will encourage them to target more organizations.
Final ThoughtsRansomware can be quite harmful, especially if you haven’t taken reasonable precautions. Plus, don’t have a proper recovery plan and advanced security. Backups alone can disable many ransomware attacks. However, if you are not prepared at all, you will have to invest a significant amount, and resources in paying the ransom or damage control. It is much more than in your enterprise security and ransomware prevention. Consequently, ransomware recovery is very essential for every business.