How To Prepare For A Cyber Attack?

By now you’ve surely heard of ransomware and most people with speak with have been a victim of a ransom attack or know another company that has been breached. This type of cyber attack is when “cyber kidnappers” take your computer or network hostage and infect a computer or computer system with a virus that locks all the files and programs. The only way to unlock the files and read them again is to use a key or code, which is given upon receipt of the ransom payment.

Ransomware creators are no different than any other software company with their decision to use a combination of symmetric and asymmetric encryption.  Everyone wants security, performance and reliability with the software they create. All malware is evolving quickly.  Ransomware is unique when compared to other variants of malware for one primary reason.  Traditional malware wants to avoid being detected for as long as possible in order to accomplish their end-goal.  Ransomware on the other hand is the exact opposite, wanting to be discovered as quickly as possible so the victim can pay for decryption keys.

So how do you prepare for a ransomware attack?

Planning, planning and planning. You must have a plan and assume the worst can and will happen to you.

Here are some quick tips:

• Build a comprehensive backup solution, backup often, and test your backup solutions often. Backup your computer and file systems, drives, etc. ideally one that will not be infected or linked to your current computer system. You may even create a full backup to a removable drive of some kind. The bottom line is if your files get encrypted, you don’t have to pay the ransom – you just restore the files. Most businesses back up, but some have not tested whether or not these backups work in an emergency and normally these attacks always hit and the worse time when you have ongoing issues with your backup solution.

• Have a disaster recovery plan. If creating the backups is the beginning of the plan, have steps to continue implementation. Who will be responsible for removing the virus and reestablishing the file system? Is it someone in your IT department? Is it a contractor or third party? Always know what which steps to take – this will keep things running smoothly, and most importantly avoids a sense of panic in a tough situation.

• Use a layered security approach, with all endpoints protected, as well as protection at the mail server and  internet gateway. If you can stop these things from ever showing up in an end user’s mailbox, you’re ahead of the game. It is all about layering your defenses in todays cyber world and combined with a 24/7 managed threat detection service you are in the best possible place to defend against and monitor should anything manage to bypass your defenses.

• Educate your employees. One of the most popular vehicles for ransomware is a phishing email telling the user they have an invoice that requires payment. If employees recognize such emails, they will know not to open or respond to them, but instead report them to their information security team. Performing managed phishing campaigns can educate your employees.

• Run risk analyses, and patch vulnerabilities, especially on browsers, browser plugins, operating systems and 3rd party software. Information security teams should be savvy enough to continuously run penetration tests to hunt for vulnerabilities.

Planning and taking quick action are the best ways to avoid a serious problem from ransomware. If your organization is not sure where to start, a cyber security provider like Wizard Cyber can easily help you create a cyber security strategy that will increase your cyber security posture and protect your business from the consequential costs and reputation damage caused by ransomware and other cyber attacks. So plan accordingly and take action now to make sure you’re in the clear when disaster tries to strike.