Today, your business is vulnerable to cyber attacks more than ever. Not to worry though, IT professionals provided by OSTechnical will be your first line of defense against ransomware and hackers. Ransomware is malicious software that encrypts a company’s data that is held for ransom paid to an attacker. This cybercrime has become more and more prevalent in this day and age. It is important to hire IT pros who can aid you in preventing, detecting, and reducing the damage caused by hackers. That’s where OSTechnical steps in and provides you and your employees with the security you deserve.
In this article, we will discuss the keys to a successful ransomware response. Awareness, security, monitoring, and detection are just a few of the elements that we will be discussing here. Buckle up and get ready to keep your data where it belongs. On your private and secure servers.
- Education and Awareness
The most important step of all is to ensure that your organization is educated and aware when it comes to cybersecurity. Regular training sessions should be held to help employees recognize phishing attempts and other attack tactics. When everyone is capable of spotting intruders from a mile away you increase your protection tenfold. Teaching your team to be suspicious of an email before clicking on attachments is one key to stopping hackers in their tracks. Forwarding any suspicious emails to your OSTechnical IT team will ensure protection.
- Regular Back Ups
Backing up data regularly is something that should be encouraged. This ensures that data is stored securely and accurately if ransomware rears its ugly head. Test your backup restoration processes to confirm their effectiveness routinely. Backup files should be stored and protected offline so they can’t be targeted by outsiders. Always check that backup files haven’t been contaminated on the event of a cyberattack.
- Clearly Define Plans and Policies
An Incident Response Plan (IRP) is a comprehensive layout of steps that are to be taken on the occasion of a ransomware attack. Identifying, containing, eradication, and recovery are a few traits of a successful IRP. Conduct regular exercises with your team using the plan to guarantee a speedy and effective counterattack. Always inform any partners or vendors of any incidents to cover all of your bases. Read more on Incident Response Plans here.
- Protect Your Endpoints
Reputable antivirus software should be installed on all of your organization’s devices. An endpoint is any device connected to your corporate network from outside of your firewall. This means laptops, tablets, mobile devices, you name it. Any one of these endpoints can be an entrance point for a cyberattack. Configuration settings should always be secure in order to protect against threats. Close any and all security gaps and enable automatic updates to restrict unauthorized access to your data from ransomware.
- Network Security
Firewalls, intrusion detection systems, and privileged access, oh my! Protecting your network’s integrity is a must when dealing with a ransomware attack. Reconnecting to a clean network before downloading, installing, and updating any and all software is incredibly important. Implementing a least privilege action model will restrict access to your critical systems. When users are only given access to specific data, resources, and applications tasks get accomplished quickly and data stays under lock and key.
- Network Segmentation
Containing the spread of ransomware is a huge concern on the occasion of a breach. Isolating critical systems minimizes the impact of a cyberattack. Dividing your network into individual sub-networks improves security and performance. When you segment your networks you gain control over how traffic flows between them. Unique security and services for each subnetwork is an excellent way to keep hackers at bay.
- Monitoring and Detection
Continuous monitoring protocols give your team the ability to detect and respond to threats in real-time. Watching for unusual files and activities with advanced threat detection equals security. Ransomware detection means identifying the out of the ordinary and automatically alerting users. When your team gets flagged they can begin the process of stopping a virus in its tracks before your valuable files are encrypted.
OSTechnical connects you with IT Professionals that are waiting in the wings to protect your company against ransomware, malware, and viruses. When you combine these strategies you can significantly increase your protection. A resilient defense against a wide range of cyberattacks is a cornerstone of running a successful business. Regularly reassess and update security measures to keep one step ahead of an evolving threat landscape that has no sign of stopping.
