What You Need to Know to Shield Your Business from Ransomware

Ransomware attacks dominate security news headlines daily to the point that people have begun to dismiss them as inevitable. In May of 2021, the Colonial Pipeline ransomware attack highlighted the real-world consequences of a successful cyberattack.

While ransomware is a serious threat to all businesses, these devastating attacks can be prevented with the proper tools in place. This article will detail everything you need to know about ransomware and ransomware protection to safeguard your users, your key assets and your reputation.

Watch: Best Practices to Protect Against Ransomware 

What Is Ransomware & How Does It Work?

Ransomware is a type of malware designed to block access to a computer system until a sum of money in the form of untraceable Bitcoin is paid. It does this by encrypting a victim’s files until they have made the payment demanded by the attacker.

Who Does Ransomware Target?

While ransomware is a serious threat to all businesses and organizations, some entities are at heightened risk of suffering an attack. For instance, medical facilities or government agencies are often targeted in ransomware campaigns because they tend to pay ransom quickly due to the fact that they need immediate access to their files. Over the past year, approximately 2,400 ransomware attacks have hit corporate, local and federal offices.

Small- to medium-sized businesses (SMBS) are also highly attractive targets among ransomware operators because attackers know that these companies often have smaller security teams and tend to invest less in cyber defense. Eighty-five percent of MSPs report ransomware as a common threat to SMBs, and 29% of small businesses have experience with ransomware - making them more likely to be unprepared for this threat. Data reveals that the majority of small businesses are not able to recover from an attack, and 60% of small companies go out of business within six months of getting hit with ransomware. 

Common Types of Ransomware

Ransomware is constantly evolving, and sophisticated new strains are always emerging. While each new variant has unique characteristics and its own method of spreading, all strains of ransomware rely on similar social engineering tactics to deceive users and encrypt their files. Some notorious ransomware variants include:

• WannaCry: The most well-known ransomware variant around the globe, this cryptoworm has infected nearly 125,000 organizations in over 150 different countries.
• CryptoLocker: The CryptoLocker botnet has been around for the past two decades; however, the CryptoLocker ransomware emerged in 2013 when hackers used the original CryptoLocker botnet approach in ransomware. Between September and December 2013, CryptoLocker infected more than 250,000 systems and earned over $3 million for its creators before the botnet was taken down in 2014 in an international operation.
• Petya: This ransomware variant, which arrives in an email disguised as a job applicant’s resume, began spreading in March of 2016. If a user clicks on a malicious file within this email, his or her computer is rebooted and the user’s files become unreachable until ransom is paid. Petya encrypts .exe files, which interferes with victims’ ability to pay ransom in some cases.
• NotPetya: Similar to Petya, NotPetya encrypts a victim’s master file table and requests a Bitcoin ransom to restore access to these files. However, NotPetya is different, and more dangerous, than Petya in multiple ways. NotPetya spreads on its own, encrypts everything on a victim’s computer and technically is not ransomware. In the process of encrypting a user’s data, NotPetya damages it beyond repair. In 2017, a devastating NotPetya outbreak cost FedEx $300 million in lost business and cleanup costs.
• Bad Rabbit: This strain of ransomware typically spreads through a fake Adobe Flash update on compromised websites. It has infected organizations across Russia and Eastern Europe.
• Cerber: This ransomware variant targets cloud-based Microsoft 365 users. Millions of users have been victimized by a sophisticated phishing campaign carried out by Cerber ransomware. Secondary protection is critical in keeping Microsoft 365 users and their data safe.
• Locky: A ransomware variant designed to lock victims’ computers until ransom is paid, Locky spreads through a seemingly harmless email disguised as an invoice.

Mobile Ransomware and RaaS

Authors and operators of ransomware are motivated by the potential to make a profit which has led to a rapid increase in innovation, as well as creative and sophisticated tactics. Attackers can replicate smaller attacks to be used against large corporations and demand a larger ransom. To do this, cybercriminals only require a small percentage of successful large-scale attacks to produce substantial revenue, a major incentive for threat actors.

A report from the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) and the National Crime Agency (NCA) warns of threats like ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) and mobile ransomware. Ransomware-as-a-service schemes on the dark web, which allow individuals and groups to have an impact disproportionate to their technical skill, are expected to increase in prevalence. Because mobile phones often lack adequate security defenses and contain valuable information, mobile ransomware is on the rise. Experts predict a steady increase in both the number of mobile ransomware attacks and the magnitude of these campaigns. 

Best Practices for Protecting against Ransomware

While it is not always possible to prevent a successful cyberattack, engaging in security best practices and investing in a proactive, fully-managed email security solution can drastically reduce your risk. Some best practices for preventing a ransomware attack include:

• Think before you click! Make sure you have confirmed the legitimacy of an email before downloading any attachments it contains.
• Make sure your OS is patched and updated, reducing the chance of vulnerabilities existing that criminals could exploit.
• Back up your files frequently and automatically. This won’t prevent a ransomware attack, but it can reduce the damage caused by one. Be aware that backups are not foolproof: ransomware may sit idle for weeks until it is triggered, potentially destroying backups.
• Invest in a comprehensive, proactive cloud email security that accurately detects malicious emails (such as those containing ransomware) and prevents them from reaching the inbox.

How to Protect Backups from Ransomware

While backing up your files on a regular basis may reduce the devastation caused by a potential ransomware attack, backups are becoming less reliable as ransomware evolves. Threat actors are getting smarter, attacking backups to prevent recovery. 

That being said, there are various best practices that users should engage in to protect their backups from ransomware. They include:

• Supplement backups with additional copies and third-party tools.
• Keep multiple copies of important files at multiple locations.
• Isolate backups - The more barriers that exist between an infected system and its backups, the harder it will be for ransomware to attack these backups.
• Test your backups! Perform restoration exercises on a regular basis to identify any issues that may exist with your backups.

If Your Computer Has Been Infected With Ransomware

If you are the victim of a ransomware attack, you will need to regain control of your computer, though this will not restore your files as it is impossible to decrypt blocked data without access to the key held by the attacker. Removing the ransomware from your computer eliminates the possibility of recovering encrypted files by paying the ransom.

Should I pay the ransom?

Paying the ransom perpetuates the cycle of cybercrime. Decryption keys for many common strains of ransomware are available, and victims should always seek the guidance of security experts before even considering paying. In many cases, it is possible to recover encrypted data without paying criminals to do so. Sites like No More Ransomware were established to evaluate your encrypted files after you’ve been compromised to help you ascertain the type of ransomware used.

However, in cases involving newer or less common ransomware variants, decryption tools may not be available, and not paying the ransom that attackers ask for is often unrealistic for businesses and organizations that have lost important data. Although sixty-six percent of companies say that they would never pay ransom to cyber criminals, in reality sixty-five percent do pay ransom when they get hit with an attack. Realistically, the decision of whether or not to pay ransom to restore encrypted files is complex: it is both a moral and a practical decision which often involves doing a cost-benefit analysis.

The FBI’s position on how to deal with a ransomware attack is that victims should never pay ransom to attackers, adding that paying ransom does not guarantee that encrypted files will be recovered and that payments may be used to fund other criminal activity. 

Keep Learning About Ransomware Prevention

When it comes to ransomware, prevention is far better than remediation and implementing the caliber of email protection required to repel these increasingly sophisticated attacks is an investment that continues to pay off - both in terms of business security and success.

• Learn more about effectively protecting your business from ransomware.
• Learn more about an effective email security solution that understands the relationships you have with other people while gaining a deeper knowledge of the types of conversations you have with them.
• Prepare your business for cyberattacks to make sure employees stay safe online.
• Improve your email security posture to protect against attacks and breaches by following best practices.
• Keeping the integrity of your email safe requires securing the cloud with spam filtering and enterprise-grade anti-spam services.
• Get the latest updates on how to stay safe online.

Want to learn more about the magnitude of your business email risk and get expert advice on how you can reduce it? Use our free Email Risk Assessment Toolkit and learn about steps you can take to better secure your business against phishing, ransomware and other sophisticated modern threats in less than two minutes.

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