Nigerian princes are no longer the only menaces lurking in an employee's inbox. For healthcare organizations, schools, government agencies and many businesses, ransomware attacks—an especially sinister type of malware delivered through spear phishing emails that locks up valuable data assets and demands a ransom to release them—are a rapidly-growing security threat.
"We're currently seeing a massive explosion in innovation in the types of ransomware and the ways it's getting into organizations," says Rick McElroy, security strategist for cyber security company Carbon Black Enterprise Response. "It's a big business, and the return on investment to attackers is there—it's going to get worse."
To prevent a ransomware attack, experts say IT and information security leaders should do the following:
- Keep clear inventories of all of your digital assets and their locations, so cyber criminals do not attack a system you are unaware of.
- Keep all software up to date, including operating systems and applications.
- Back up all information every day, including information on employee devices, so you can restore encrypted data if attacked.
- Back up all information to a secure, offsite location.
- Segment your network: Don't place all data on one file share accessed by everyone in the company.
- Train staff on cyber security practices, emphasizing not opening attachments or links from unknown sources.
- Develop a communication strategy to inform employees if a virus reaches the company network.
- Before an attack happens, work with your board to determine if your company will plan to pay a ransom or launch an investigation.
- Perform a threat analysis in communication with vendors to go over the cyber security throughout the lifecycle of a particular device or application.
- Instruct information security teams to perform penetration testing to find any vulnerabilities.
No comments:
Post a Comment