Businesses rely heavily on technology for their daily operations today. However, with this reliance comes the growing threat of cyber attacks. In fact, global trends and growth forecasts indicate that cyber security is a growing concern. One of the most alarming types of these attacks is ransomware, where cyber criminals use viruses or malware to take control of your systems and data.
These attacks disrupt normal operations, have lasting effects, and are very expensive to rectify. After such an attack, anyone could view your systems and data anywhere, opening you to legal and financial risks.
In this article, we will demonstrate how your business can mitigate a situation whereby cyber criminals use a virus or malware on your system to demand a ransom.
What Are Ransomware Attacks?
Ransomware attacks refer to cyber crimes that involve encrypting files or making systems inaccessible. Since only cyber criminals know how to give you back access to your data and systems quickly, they are essentially holding your files, hostage. Generally, these criminals will demand crypto currencies in exchange for giving you back this access.
Usually, the attack starts by gaining access to your systems using techniques such as phishing. Then, the malicious program attempts to reach high-level permission access within your systems. Once it has access to a major section of your system, it will encrypt your files until you pay the ransom. Reports also indicate that you may even endure a second attack 2 – 10 days after the first since your systems are still vulnerable.
Furthermore, these attacks can be automatic or human-operated. The automated attacks require little to no coding expertise to deploy, making them a popular option. Conversely, human-operated ransomware requires experts in software security ― which in turn increases the severity of the attack.
Understanding the Growing Threat of Ransomware Attacks
While most ransomware attacks are preventable, they have become a greater threat. According to reports, ransomware attacks on organizations increased by 29% from 2019 to 2021. This is because organizations and businesses are becoming more reliant on online data and systems, which are more susceptible to such attacks.
In particular, small and medium-sized businesses in the entertainment, finance, and healthcare industries receive the most attacks. These are prime ransomware targets because they have sensitive data for which these businesses are willing to pay handsomely. Moreover, the perpetrators can use the data to gain more profits by selling it or using it to target customers. As a matter of fact, your customers may even pursue legal action against you for not protecting their data well enough. Plus, there is no guarantee that you will regain sole ownership and access to the totality of your data after paying the ransom.
Beyond the potential financial and data loss, these attacks are a threat to businesses because they damage their reputations. When your business is under a ransomware attack, your clients are more likely to believe your services are unsafe, and they will not want you to have their information.
How Your Business Can Prevent or Mitigate Ransomware Attacks with SaaS Solutions
Having skilled software security experts is essential to preventing and mitigating these attacks. Yet, with the current shortage of these experts, you may need software-as-a-service to receive help securing your systems conveniently.
Take a look below to learn how these services can help your business better protect itself from this type of attack:
Preemptively Defend Your Data and Systems
The first solution they offer is to defend your systems and data. So, they may provide your system with a firewall. For example, if you use a payment gateway service, they may install a firewall to monitor and filter information exchange. Then, your system and customer’s data will be harder to access.
Backup Your Data Regularly
With backup software services, you can ensure that you have copies of your data on a separate system. For example, a third-party company could host copies of your files. If you lose access to your data due to encryption viruses and malware, you will be able to download your files and continue to work as usual.
Detect Intrusions in Your Systems
Another service they offer is to detect an intrusion in your system. Whether you suspect that someone has already breached your system or not, this software will inspect your system and files. So, the software will alert you if it identifies the presence of malware in your system.
Respond to Ransomware Attacks
If your business has received a ransom to regain access to your data and systems, you can use this software to respond to it. The software-as-a-service will prevent further spread of malware and viruses and even delete them from your systems.
Recover Your Data Promptly
Lastly, your business can use recovery software-as-a-service to return your systems to their status before the attack. While the attackers may still have copies of your data, you can at least continue operating. This will give you the ability to continue satisfying customers by operating as usual.
The Best Tips for Business to Effectively Prevent a Ransomware Attack
Though software services can help you prepare and manage such attacks, your business should consider cyber hygiene practices. These practices will ensure your staff and end-users know how to minimize cybercrime risks. Here are tips to prevent a ransomware attack:
- Train your staff on security measures: You should conduct regular training to teach your staff how to avoid common software security issues. This training should be regular to update your staff on new threats and to refresh their memories.
- Immediately update your software: To avoid vulnerabilities, you should update your software when there is a new security patch.
- Devise a test and response plan: Before your business experiences such an attack, you should create a plan detailing how to test and respond to it. This will ensure your staff are prepared for an attack and can more quickly address it, potentially mitigating its effects.
- Require strong passwords: Your staff should use strong passwords to minimize the likelihood of a breach in your system.
- Use multi-factor authentication. This system greatly minimizes external access to your system and requires more information for attackers to gain control of it.
- Manage user permissions: To ensure only authorized data access is available, you should monitor and manage user permissions. You should also ensure that employees leaving your company can no longer access your systems.
Final Note
Ransomware attacks are an ever-present threat to businesses of various sizes and across industries. With cyber hygiene training and incident plans, you must prepare your staff and minimize the frequency of such attacks. By employing the right software-as-a-service, such as AVG, to your system, you can mitigate these attacks via defending your system, creating copies of your data, finding potential viruses and malware, and containing them. These software services will even stop an attack and recover your data so you can continue operating. Ultimately, your business will avoid financial loss, reputation damage, and legal issues.
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