With every passing day, ransomware attacks have become sophisticated and the attackers have become bolder. The trend of remote working, dealing in cryptocurrency, and easy access to learning platforms like YouTube has brought this upraise. What you can do to mitigate your chances of becoming a victim is prevent malware attempts at the point of entry. You can do this by detecting successful ransomware attacks while in progress and using ransomware recovery strategies to lessen the damage.
The ransomware attacks are lucrative ventures for cybercriminals. And they can even infiltrate an advanced security system with sophisticated tactics. So, a proactive strategy should be in place to avoid any unwanted situations. You may need the services of cyber security solutions for installing advanced security but here we have enlisted a few of the tips that you yourself can take for your organization. If you want to learn those steps, continue reading!
How can Ransomware Encrypt Your Files?
Ransomware can succeed only when businesses have poor security strategies. Organizations that don’t have policies and procedures around data security will have a higher risk of ransomware attacks.
Here are some of the most common ways with which you can fall victim to a ransomware attack:
Open Remote Desktop Protocol Ports (RDP):
Due to the requirement of remote working, businesses may leave their Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) ports open. For doing so, organizations usually take necessary security measures to save themselves from the menace of ransomware attacks. But sometimes, organizations, due to poor security practices, unknowingly leave these ports open. And this negligence is equal to leaving the front door unlocked when you leave your home: it provides an opportunity for cyber-attacks to come through with little deterrence.
Phishing Attacks:
This is the most common method that cyberpunks use to hijack your systems and data. In this method, the operators send provocative emails to the employees of the organization they wish to target. These emails contain infected links or attachments and if some user clicks or interact with these emails, the process of ransomware attack starts. Using a Blazing SEO residential proxy can mask your IP. This significantly reduces the chances of attackers grabbing your contact information for their phishing attack campaign.
Compromised Passwords:
The ransomware operators can use previously compromised passwords from employees at your organization to gain unauthorized access to the networks. This poor security practice of reusing the same passwords again and again for multiple accounts can lead to ransomware attacks. Only those organizations can ward off these attacks, that follow good password hygiene.
Measures You Need to Take for Ransomware Recovery:
Following are the steps that don’t need services of cyber security solutions for implementation. You can take them on your own to help yourself in the recovery process.
Keep Backups of Your Data:
The first and foremost step that you can take to clear the ground for recovery is to keep backups of your data. This is because, in an event of misfortune, backups will save you from paying ransom and downtime costs. These days storage is not as costly as it was in the past, so, taking this measure won’t cost you much. Furthermore, to keep these backups safe from the attack, either they should be kept offline or off-site. When they are disconnected from the network, the attackers won’t reach them.
Install Antivirus and Firewalls:
When a cybercriminal attacks your system, your antivirus and firewall are the first shields that will save your data. Also, they will save you from greater disasters because they will inform you as soon as the ransomware attack begins. So, it is recommended to get good quality antivirus and firewall installed on all of your systems. Moreover, don’t forget to keep them updated too.
Keep Your Systems and Software Applications Updated:
The cybercriminals are always after the possible vulnerabilities in the software and the system. They exploit those vulnerabilities to launch their attacks. And the software providers, on the other hand, always try to remove the vulnerabilities of the current version with the new version. This is why it is highly recommended that you always keep your systems and software applications updated.
Wrap up:
The frequency of ransomware attacks has been increasing day by day and the cost of these attacks is also increasing with it. Only those who companies that withstood these attacks, that have installed a good enterprise security plan and a comprehensive ransomware recovery strategy. Here we have enclosed a few of the most important steps that need to be implemented for strengthening your cybersecurity plan. These steps are not enough to fully secure your systems. To achieve invincible security, you need to hire the services of some good cybersecurity providers.
