Ransomware Attacks – 5 Tips to Limit their Impact!
Ransomware attacks were detected over 490 million times in 2022 within businesses worldwide. This huge figure may be a surprise to you, but these malware issues have actually become more regular with the rise of the digital world.
Ransomware is a popular kind of malware that hackers use to restrict someone’s access to their technology. Ransomware attacks occur through using codes to encrypt and block use of systems or files. In most cases, the hackers force the owner to pay a “ransom” to retrieve their “digital possessions”.
Clearly, the effect of ransomware attacks can be devastating to the victim. However, there are ways to go against the threat of these malware problems. Here are a few tips on how to limit the impact of, or even prevent ransomware attacks on your business:
1. Practice Backup Maintenance
Backing up information is the most effective measure your business can take to prevent or lessen the effect of ransomware attacks. The best place to backup all your company’s data is to a protected, offline medium so that it cannot be hacked. It would also be good to use cloud services for backup as they help you to source previous versions of your saved files before they were corrupted by malware.
2. Create a Ransomware Response Plan
If ransomware attacks happen to any business, it is a major crisis! Therefore, your business must have a detailed plan on how to respond if such an incident happens. The plan may have the specific roles of each person in such an event, the communication process of your business, and even a list of the company’s stakeholders that need to be informed. Forming a plan on how to act would help your business to make quick and responsible decisions in the event of a potential or occurring attack on your software.
3. Improve Email Security
Phishing emails is one of the ways hackers carry out ransomware attacks on the system of businesses. In the email is usually a link or URL with the ransomware code to attack your system. The best way to stop this is to implement a sufficient email security solution for your business. These solutions filter links, track and restrict suspicious files sent via email, and add warning messages to emails from outside of the company.
4. Update Systems Constantly
Your business must ensure that all your systems and software are updated on a regular basis. If this is done, there is a smaller chance that hackers can use malware to gain control as there would be fewer avenues for them to exploit. You can also use an auto-update feature to ensure that the most recent security patch is installed.
5. Train Staff on Ransomware
Awareness of security threats by all members of staff within your business is very important to preventing or limiting the impact of ransomware attacks. Training would help employees to spot a suspicious email when they see one. It also improves their knowledge of the organization’s policies related to cybersecurity.
Ransomware attacks can be limited, and even prevented if these key tips are followed. Your business must take the necessary steps to maintain your systems and protect your data from malware created by hackers.
ADVANTUM offers specialized Network Managed Services which include maintaining your business network equipment and providing email and backup solutions. We also offer a Network Health Check Service, which is the first step in securing your system.
Contact our ADVANTUM Managed Services team today to schedule your Network Health Check Consultation to prevent or limit the impact of ransomware attacks on your business.