How to protect your business against ransomware attacks?

Ransomware is a common threat. However, that does not imply that you should give up and declare yourself a loser. Instead, there are various methods for reducing risk, yet you can completely eradicate it, as with most security concerns.

Several methods can be used to lessen the effects of a ransomware assault. You can use strong technical tools and educational programs to reduce and counteract phishing assaults. Let's go over a few more overlapping tactics that reinforce one another as part of a comprehensive strategy for reducing ransomware risks.

The answer is zero-trust

Organizations must embrace zero-trust security strategies that don't rely on verified users consistently adhering to best practices.

Reduced threat surfaces and constrained breach effects can be achieved largely by implementing zero trust and the principle of least privilege. The general guidelines are: don't leave anything open or on that shouldn't be, and don't give permission to anyone who doesn't need it.

Other necessary tactics include restricting connectivity between end-user systems, having separate local admin credentials for each of your end-user systems, and limiting administrative permissions on end-user systems.

Zero trust implies the necessity to restrict or eliminate everything that interferes with a person or machine doing its job. PowerShell is most likely necessary for sysadmins, not so for financial analysts.

Another excellent example of basic security hygiene that will reduce the danger of ransomware is removing PowerShell from computers where it is not required. And sure, in this area, you should employ MFA and other technologies.

Adopt security technologies that are user-centric and that include contextual layers of authentication, including SSO and MFA, as well as tools that offer visibility and access control.

Network segmentation

Complete prevention is practically unattainable, so preparation is essential. As a result, if an attacker does manage to locate a weak point in your organization, it's critical to restrict their capacity to travel widely and deeply within it. Network segmentation is essential to stop attackers from traveling laterally over the network and encrypting more data.

This necessitates complete awareness of and comprehension of your settings and how they interact and overlap. The "air gapping" strategy may be necessary for specific circumstances.

Additionally, businesses must take every precaution to keep all crucial networks and auxiliary systems as far away from the rest of their networks as possible. This can imply a full air gap. All communication entering and leaving the main network should be heavily filtered to stop ransomware from entering if it is required to connect vital systems and supporting systems to the main network through an internet connection.

Modern framework

Modern security threats demand contemporary security measures. On this front, much support is available, particularly regarding recognizing dangers and strengthening your preventative and response capabilities.

Security teams should think about the NIST Cybersecurity Framework and MITRE ATT&CK as two excellent possibilities. The NIST framework is intended to assist organizations in establishing a successful cybersecurity program and preventing cyberattacks. It consists of five functions: Identity, Protect, Detect, Respond, and Recover.

Intending to assist in game planning, prevention, and response to realistic adversaries, MITRE ATT&CK is a widely used and accessible knowledge source of real-world tactics and threats.

It contains ransomware-specific tactics under the "Impact" category. Security teams can use the information it gives them to anticipate potential attacks, evaluates their current capacity to spot and counteract such tactics and make plans for the best possible defense.

Keeping thorough records of who, what, and when an incident occurred can simplify incident triage. The goal is to identify the systems that are essential to the operation of your company, to make sure they are adequately backed up, and to be able to test their recovery. As part of a sound layered security strategy, having reliable backups (or cloud storage) and knowing that they function as intended will help you recover from a ransomware attack more quickly.