Important Preventative Strategies for Avoiding and Recovering from Ransomware Threats

All organizations have their share of struggles when trying to scale successfully. Considering how competitive most industries have become, prioritizing operational agility is often critical and requires a high level of adaptability to gain and retain market share.

However, while dealing with these issues is difficult, considering the ongoing rise in cybercrime, running a business today isn’t for the faint of heart. Ransomware threats have become a significant threat to companies in all industry sectors and can wreak havoc on organizations’ operational status.

Luckily, there are specific strategies that businesses can put in place to help them better prepare for these types of threats and improve their chances of avoiding and successfully recovering from ransomware attacks.

The Impact of Modern Ransomware

Today’s organizations face a highly complex and rapidly advancing cybersecurity landscape. Business security threats are different and much more severe than they were years ago. Not only has addressing these threats directly been difficult for many organizations, but keeping up with modern technologies that help minimize attack surfaces is a challenge.

Ransomware continues to be one of the most destructive cyber threats for businesses worldwide. Approximately 73% of global businesses have dealt with this form of attack in one way or another. Unfortunately, for organizations that don’t have the proper security protocols in place, effectively mitigating risks is an expensive and often futile effort, putting businesses in compromising financial positions that are hard to recover from.

How Ransomware Attacks Work

A ransomware attack injects malicious software into a victim’s local system with a priority placed on encrypting essential data so that it’s inaccessible without paying for access to an encryption key. Because of how reliant modern businesses are on data, these attacks can quickly shut down operations and require significant investments to recover.

Attacks typically originate from an attacker gaining access to systems or networks by compromising user credentials through sophisticated phishing schemes or when users visit malicious websites or download unknown files. Once the malware has found a host, it will begin spreading laterally across a network to identify high-value data targets and start the encryption process.

After encryption has been implemented, ransomware will also modify local registries, making it nearly impossible to run recovery protocols and reverse the encryption directly. Ransoms are demanded by the attackers to gain access to the necessary encryption keys, although there is never any guarantee that once paid, they’ll provide them.

Importance of Proactive Security Planning

Proactive security planning is the only effective way to reduce an organization’s risk profile when combatting ransomware significantly. This is why it’s so important to clearly understand the depth of your organization’s security readiness. But getting to this point requires the right planning approach.

How Security Audits Can Help

Today’s cybercriminals work to exploit multiple attack vectors across widely scaling digital infrastructures. Because of this, many businesses find themselves in the complex scenario of deciding where exactly they should focus their resources on security improvements.

In these situations, security audits can be a valuable solution for gaining this important perspective and helping the organization be more transparent when evaluating its cybersecurity posture. This transparency makes it easier to strategically allocate funds and various initiatives in the right areas to maximize the returns on time and resources.

There are a number of different areas that businesses will want to explore when auditing their data security and compliance standards. For example, with the growing number of businesses making use of AI security solutions, organizations need to make sure they are ethically aligned to bring added value while also meeting strict industry guidelines.

Minimizing the Impact of Successful Ransomware Attacks

Unfortunately, even with preventative measures, it’s still common for businesses to fall victim to ransomware attacks. Successful recovery requires mitigating tactics that are put into effect before these situations occur.

Below are some preventative measures you can take now to minimize the impact of a successful ransomware attack:

Research Cybersecurity Insurance Coverage

Even though the thought of paying ransom to “make everything go away” seems like the most straightforward answer to a ransomware attack, this approach is rarely a reliable solution. There is minimal guarantee that paying a ransom will grant you access to the data you need. Also, the fact that you are willing to pay a ransom once significantly increases your chances of being targeted again.

A more reasonable expense would be to invest in cybersecurity insurance coverage. This insurance gives your business the financial safety net it needs to recover systems in the event of a successful attack. Take the time to research coverage options and evaluate if this can be added to your security planning budgets.

Put Together a Comprehensive Incident Response Plan

All businesses should have a comprehensive incident response plan, regardless of whether they are preparing for cybersecurity breaches or other forms of operational disruption.

These highly detailed roadmaps outline the necessary personal, technology, communication protocols, and recovery steps to get a business back to its full operational state as quickly and efficiently as possible.

Developing and regularly testing an incident response plan for your business is vital to ensuring you have the necessary tools and guidance to minimize the damage ransomware can cause.

Work With Outside Professionals

Improving your cybersecurity readiness often involves working with experienced external partners who can help you take the necessary steps to protect your business.

Cybersecurity firms and managed security services providers can help you conduct comprehensive security audits and vendor risk assessments that can help you pinpoint current vulnerabilities in your operations while developing a custom security strategy aligned with your overall business objectives.

Don’t Let Your Business Become the Next Victim

While the ransomware attacks are beginning to vary from year to year, their threat is still very real. By recognizing the severity of this threat and implementing the strategies discussed, your organization can significantly reduce the probability of a ransomware attack and minimize the crippling damage it can cause.