Five Ways to Protect Your Business from Ransomware Attacks

Ransomware as a cybersecurity threat is growing year on year. A 2021 report by the CyberEdge Cyberthreat Defense group highlighted that a record number of organizations had been victims of ransomware attacks every year.

Obviously, this is terrible news for companies in all industries. In such a scenario, it is imperative for you to be aware of the five ways to protect your business from ransomware. Let’s have a look at what they are:

1) Do not pay the ransom

Even though restoring compromised systems may be a costly and lengthy process, the fact of the matter is that can you actually trust a cybercriminal? Paying the ransom they ask will not ensure that you’ll get access to your files again or that your stolen data won’t be compromised. It will only guarantee that your attackers will get your money. Furthermore, paying ransom to a cybercriminal (or even negotiating with one!) may result in you facing steep fines as per a warning by the US Department of the Treasury.

2) Enlist the help of managed IT services

If you’re a business and want to protect yourself from ransomware attacks, consider enlisting the help of managed IT services such as this company offering IT support in San Diego. Such a provider will have the expertise to assist you by ensuring that all your computers have proven anti-virus and anti-spam software installed on your computers. They can help in increasing your email security measures like advanced protection from unsafe attachments and more. They can ensure that regular patching and updating of your systems occur regularly and also help in backing up your data regularly. Last but not least, a managed IT services provider will closely monitor all your systems and ensure that your systems are equipped to react and respond to ransomware threats automatically.

3) Ensure that two-factor authentication is enabled across your business

Cybercriminals can use stolen credentials from your employees to get access to your corporate network to deploy ransomware. They may obtain the credentials with the help of phishing attacks or data breaches. In such a scenario, ensuring two-factor authentication across your business will mean that cybercriminals will find it difficult to access your corporate network without having access to authenticating factors like a code, pin, biometric data, or a token. In fact, this is one of the essential steps you should take to strengthen your company’s email security.

4) Use strong spam filters

You can reduce the risk of phishing with the help of strong spam filters that will prevent phishing emails from reaching your employees. Authenticate inbound email with the use of technologies such as Domain Message Authentication Reporting and Conformance (DMARC), Sender Policy Framework (SPF), and DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM). Such measures will reduce the risk of your employees falling prey to scam emails and inadvertently being responsible for allowing malware to access your corporate network.

5) Conduct regular training on ransomware

A company’s staff is the weakest link in its security system due to a lack of awareness and training. You should conduct regular training on ransomware covering areas such as how ransomware can infect their computers, what steps they should take to prevent this from happening, and who to report possible instances of them being compromised by ransomware. By conducting regular training, you will ensure that the most critical level of defense in your business is as robust as possible.

In Summary

The likelihood of the frequency of ransomware attacks increasing in the future is high. Cybercriminals have successfully obtained huge payouts from both the private and public sectors. The steps we’ve highlighted in this article will help you defend your business from being compromised.