Do you know what ransomware is or how to identify and survive a ransom attack? One of the most significant areas of business network security in the Greater Boston area is education, training, and support. The technology used for security and remote IT services is essential, but providing education to employees and ransomware awareness programs can be significant in the protection of your business. One study that was recently conducted by security provider Kaspersky offered some eye-opening statistics. It revealed that nearly 40 percent of all employees surveyed confessed that they did not know what ransomware was. Many discovered that they had already been victims of this targeted form of cybercrime.
What is Ransomware?
Before you can learn how to survive a ransom attack with education, training, and Greater Boston backup and recovery strategy programs, you need to know what it is. Ransomware threatens a wide range of organizations, including small and large businesses, government agencies, municipal entities, and individuals. In a nutshell, ransomware is a type of malware that encrypts the victim’s files so the attacker can demand a “ransom” to restore access to the essential data upon receipt of payment. The victim receives instructions on how to pay to get the decryption key so they can regain access to their files.
As you can imagine, this type of attack can be extremely frustrating to a business owner. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has noticed an increase in ransomware attacks around the globe. The best thing you can do is to learn how to survive a ransom attack, provide training to employees, and ransomware prevention strategies should be deployed. Business network security is more critical now than ever before, especially if you have staff working from home during this time. Greater Boston backup and recovery strategy techniques can be extremely helpful to reduce the risk associated with ransomware attacks.
Don’t Become a Victim
The best way to recover and survive a ransom attack is to prevent yourself from ever being in that position in the first place. The more you can do to ensure network security for your business, keep your team on top of the latest prevention skills and training, and work with a provider to deliver 24/7 monitoring and management services, the better. Reducing risk is key, and the innovative technology solutions at Synivate are designed to help enhance your existing business network security, identify situations where ransomware attacks can occur, and provide you with the tools you need to protect your essential business data.
While ransomware is a unique type of attack, the methods used to exploit it are the same as any other type of malware, preying on well-known weaknesses. The weak link in any business or technology is the human element. Studies reveal that most ransomware attacks come directly from phishing emails that target a specific user or type of user. Certain organizations are more impacted than others, including law enforcement, municipalities, educational facilities, and small to mid-size businesses. For these groups, a lot of the email addresses for individuals who work there are posted publicly on websites, offering the means for harvesting direct connections to employees that can receive email contact. Spam can be a big issue for published email addresses, which is how these attackers get a foot in the door.
Employees and Ransomware
As you have guessed, like other cyberattack scenarios, employees and ransomware are intricately linked together. In addition to working with our team to establish an effective Greater Boston backup and recovery strategy, we must also focus on education, training, and ongoing support for your team. Whether they are working from home or right there in the office, business network security and team training should go hand-in-hand. Getting down to the basics, figuring out where support is needed, and making sure employees are hyper-aware of the risks associated with phishing and malware attacks is essential.
You cannot rely entirely on anti-malware software to protect your business and survive a ransom attack. It takes a multifaceted approach that includes security software, employee education, and diligent backup and recovery solutions to protect your essential data from cybercriminals. Synivate can assess your current business network security program and help you determine which areas need immediate support. Our team can help implement the proper programs, policies, and safeguards necessary to provide comprehensive protection solutions for your business. Give us a call at 617-517-0704 and speak with one of our network security specialists about your concerns. We can offer a FREE network assessment and evaluation to help you better understand your technology.