How to Protect Against Ransomware – Ransomware evolves attacking small, medium, and large businesses. They are a big problem for both companies and individuals. We can see examples of these attacks in the news and headlines every day.

When Ransomware attacks take place, what kind of actions should victims take? In this short article, we will talk about how to protect against ransomware.

How to Protect Against Ransomware?

Clicking on a fake link or downloading an attachment could be enough to trigger a Ransomware to install on your system all your data is encrypted by cyber criminals. So, do you know how to protect against ransomware? There are some ways that defend you against ransomware attacks.

1- Keep Your Antivirus Software up-to-date

This is an important component of how to protect against ransomware. However, it is sometimes overlooked by SMEs. Today, many anti-virus tools have the ability to detect ransomware. Also, there are tools like Phishing Reporter, that provides end-users to report suspicious emails for analysis. These sorts of technologies can help protect you against ransomware.

2- Intrusion Detection Technologies and Monitor Them

Intrusion detection systems or technologies monitor network traffic exploring for suspicious activity and identified threats, sending up alarms when it detects such things. These tools help organizations to detect the class of traffic anomalies that might imply that the organisation is breached. Also, monitor these technologies to see if they are working correctly or stopping ransomware. Use email security gap analysis tools to test your email protection or email security technologies are working or not.

3- Use Email Filtering and Content Scanning Tools

Email filtering and Content Scanning technologies help to block unwanted or potentially-malicious code or links that redirect the user to malicious websites. These tools include both inbound email filtering and monitoring the outbound email traffic and the emails are categorized into different classes to identify them harmless. These tools are the most effortless way to stop workers from clicking on a ransomware link within an email. It stops ransomware before reaching users’s inboxes.

4- Use Automated Incident Response Tools

Another answer to how to protect against ransomware is to have an incident response tool that protects businesses on the inbox level. These kinds of technologies report, analyses, scan and contain suspicious emails within the inboxes. These tools can work and integrate with other analysis engines and in this way, it enables an institution to acquire the technologies that it doesn’t have.

5- Have a Recovery Plan

A recovery plan or disaster recovery plan (DRP) is an organised and written strategy that outlines how an organization can instantly continue its business following an incident. This plan intends to support an organization to hinder data loss and recover system functionality to continue to function in the aftermath of an incident. However, having a written plan is not sufficient, organisations have to test their plan if it is working or not.

6- Have an Efficient Backup Procedure

A data backup procedure is a process to keep copies of files from your computer. Keeping a backup of your important files and data is crucial for various major reasons.

Back up should be at least three copies of your data so that no single incident will ruin all copies. Store the data in at least two (2) different levels like on a disk and on a cloud. Moreover, store one copy of your data off-site to preserve it against natural disasters like fire, flood, theft, and other physical disasters.

7- Do not Pay The Ransom.

Security specialists and law enforcement officials have discussed that funding ransoms don’t pay back, rather it immediately funds the cybercrime and attracts criminals to keep attacking their targets using ransomware. Rather than paying to the criminals, you are able to restore your system or data from your backups.

8- Train Your Employees Against Ransomware Attacks Through Security Awareness Training

Regular cyber security awareness training is a necessary step to stop ransomware attacks.  Before a ransomware attack infected your system, which generally occurs through social engineering techniques, you must train your users with multilayered cyber security awareness training to increase your staffs’ awareness to distinguish between legitimate and false emails.

9- Use Simulated Phishing Attacks

Another answer to how to protect against ransomware will be training your employees through simulated phishing attacks.

How Effective Are Phishing Simulations Against Cyberattacks?

are an important part of your organization’s overall security awareness plan. Using Phishing simulator tools, you can measure and confirm your employees’ inclination and improvement against Ransomware attacks.

10- What You Should Do During A Ransomware Attack?

In case of a Ransomware attack, if you use cloud backup software, you can acquire your files back quickly without paying any ransom. Make sure that your files secured with cloud backup software. The best insurances against ransomware are cloud software.

If you are a cloud backup user and attacked by ransomware, you need to take 4 simple steps to retrieve files:

1. If you notice your computer, file server, or network infected with ransomware, close all file-sharing activity immediately.

2. Evaluate the virus and the extent of damage it has caused. If necessary, find your encrypted digital files using your computer’s antivirus software.
3. Clean all infected files.

4. Recover clean versions of infected files by logging into the cloud backup system.

Best Action for Ransomware attacks: Cyber Security Awareness Training

The best action to prevent ransomware early is to create awareness among people. Since the human factor is the weakest link against cyber threats, it would be more well-balanced, and rational, if you start training your employees before attacks occur.

Keepnet labs, with its people, process and technology approach, performs simulated phishing attacks regularly to increase security awareness and prevent cyber attacks. It also tests security systems and helps to plan necessary actions. Keepnet labs combine cyber attack scenarios with real-life events.

By Using Keepnet Email Threat Simulator, you can also test your email service whether it can block the ransomware attacks or phishing attack vectors.

Visit www.keepnetlabs.com and try it for free.

“This post is originally published at www.keepnetlabs.com”