Ransomware Is the Biggest Concern For CISCO

What was CISCO Founded?

CISOs and CSO conducted a survey by Proofpoint where they observed that 46% of people believe that ransomware with other forms of extortion by outsiders is the biggest security threat to a business.

• Also, a significant amount of people pays the ransom because they take it as the quickest way of restoring their network.
• They pay the ransom believing that by doing so they will be able to stop further disruption to their organization.
• Because of the above fact, ransomware is lucrative as well as appealing for cybercriminals.

Therefore, it is important to go through short guides for protection against malware. Above that, it is crucial to have all the relevant knowledge about the attack.

Understand Ransomware

It is a type of malware that is designed to block access to a system through encryption until the said ransom is paid, which is usually in the form of bitcoin ransom.

• After the attacker receives the payment, they provide the victim with the decryption key for regaining access to their systems.
• Due to the rise in the volume and variants, attackers apply various techniques.
• Most of the forms of malware like ransomware are often delivered to end-users through phishing and spam e-mails, malicious websites, and are dropped by other viruses.

Also, there are three levels of ransomware.

• Scareware– under this, fake antivirus tools pretend to detect malware issues and demand payment for fixing them.
• Browser or screen-locking ransomware- some law enforcement scams make use of fake FBI or US Department of Justice messages for claiming that they have detected illegal activity on your computer. Therefore, you are required to pay a fine.
• Encrypting ransomware– under this, a message gets popped up stating that your files are encrypted and asks for ransom money to be paid by the deadline.

Protection From Ransomware

1. Employee education

Employees can be considered to be the weakest link to the security control of an organization and attackers take advantage of it.

• It is quite easy for attackers to explore those employees who have gaps in their security awareness and social engineering techniques bait them to click on any link.
• Conducting an employee security education program is a crucial step for preventing a ransomware attack on an organization.
• After this, employees become less likely to enable macros for phishing e-mails, scams, or suspicious links.
• Training requires commitment by the information security team and must involve the entire organization from executive to frontline staff members.
• It is crucial for everyone to understand all the dangers of ransomware and how all of them can play an active role in safeguarding the organization.
• The employees must be encouraged to speak right away if something happens related to the security risk.
• A process must be adopted that can empower them to immediately report suspicious e-mails to the information security team.

2. System Backups

The sole purpose of every ransomware attack is to encrypt the infected system.

• When an organization has a routine backup process for all the systems, it can revert to prior backup in the case of such an attack.
• One must make sure that all the files are not stored in a mapped drive.
• If the backup is onto a USB or external hard drive, ensure that these are physically disconnected from the infected computer and even double-click whether the backup is clean before restoring.

3. Adopt-Multiple Layer Endpoint Security

An enterprise always needs strong endpoint security that can protect it from all the stages of a ransomware attack.

A solution must be adopted with multiple protection layers for the best practice approach for detecting and blocking ransomware attacks.

4. Vulnerability Patch Management

Patch management is both a crucial and preventive step for ransomware protection. Therefore, it is important to ensure that you have a strong patch management plan at your side.

• Assess– have maintenance inventory of production systems, operating systems, IP addresses, and security controls.
• Analyze– when an alert of vulnerability is issued, better consulting security control list for determining if the network is affected and the system is protected or not.
• Prioritize– new vulnerabilities must be prioritized on the basis of system exposure, exploit the vulnerability, and the existence of active threats.
• Apply– non-critical updates must be applied during scheduled maintenance windows. Emergency updates must be applied as soon as possible after confirmation that the patch is stable.

Conclusion

One can get the best protection from malware through Suprams Info Solutions which offers protection tools like Acronis and Malwarebytes.

It is an ultimate stop where you can get affordable plans of security and make your organization a protected one from malware.

Read Also – Does Your PC Need Anti-Ransomware Software?

Read Also – Linux Ransomware

About The Author