Posted by Ransomware attacks always make headlines as the most dreadful cyber-attacks of all time. Ransomware poses a severe threat to all businesses, regardless of their size. These malware attacks have always been there and have been destroying organizations since their inception. Moreover, post covid, there has been a surge in Ransomware attacks, primarily targeting businesses that have shifted to the Work from Home setting.
With more employees working from remote locations than ever, organizations have put themselves in a hot spot for cyberattacks. Industry experts even believe that in the past couple of years, the problem has grown multi–fold. According to them, the businesses paid out nearly $350M in ransom in 2020, and the number is constantly increasing at a pace of 300%.
But Why Remote Businesses?
Earlier, most of the Ransomware victims were big businesses and established enterprises. However, post-pandemic, the scenario has wholly taken an opposite turn. Today, cyber criminals’ favorite targets are remote workers and companies that have adopted the remote working style, and their cyber security shape is haywire. Criminals find it much more lucrative to target the weaker victims, which include new employees, naive business owners, and small merchants. Why? Because they do not pay enough attention to cyber security protocols and also don’t tend to practice advanced security best practices.
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When found the right target, the attackers then break into the business’s network seizing all the data and files which contain sensitive business information. They then encrypt the information available on those files and keep it away from them. You can only open these locked/ encrypted files with a unique decryption key that only attackers have. The scammers will provide you with the unique decryption key to your critical business data in exchange for a hefty ransom they demand from you.
Does It Impact Employees Too?
Yes. Modern Ransomware attacks target new joiners and naïve employees to break into business networks. With work from the home framework, employees all across the globe are working remotely with their company’s or personal devices, such as PCs, laptops, mobile phones, and tablets. Working outside the security of office networks makes them far more vulnerable to security breaches and advanced Ransomware like Crypto Ransomware.
A flawed IT environment, untrained employees, and the ascent of remote work contribute to the expansion of the continuous episode of Ransomware attacks. Now more than ever, it is critical for organizations to involve in team member training and due diligence to avoid or spot a Ransomware attack targeted at their employees.
How Attackers Carry Out Ransomware on Employees?
Ransomware attacks can begin in more than one way. Attackers might incorporate connections to a compromised site inside phishing messages shipped off a corporate or individual record or through corporate or individual informing applications. Likewise, Ransomware can be conveyed to an end user’s device through a malware-contaminated site page, a malicious link, or an infected attachment. When employees accidentally open these files, click on the link, or download these attachments, the attacker gains administrative access to your device/ endpoint and corrupts the critical files.
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Once corrupted, they use an algorithm/ malicious code to encrypt the data/ files on your system and lock them with a unique key. This unique key is the only way to decrypt those encrypted files and restore your essential data. Generally, hackers keep access to this unique key and keep it safe with them, far from your reach. And in exchange for this unique key, the attackers will ask for a ransom from their victims.
How to Keep Ransomware Out?
While the ascent in remote working has given cybercrooks a likely new course into compromising organizations with Ransomware, it is as yet feasible for an organization to move to remote work while likewise keeping its staff and servers protected from an advanced cyberattack to prevent email threats.
Corporate and government workplaces have various measures to keep troublemakers out. That incorporates secure servers and websites with solid passwords, advanced firewalls that screen approaching traffic and keep out dangers, managed email security, and endpoint safety with extra security set up.
Cyber Security utilizes a group-driven approach that gives danger permeability across email, the web, and the cloud. Training your employees about cybersecurity and asking them to follow the given security best practices can help protect your employees from horrific Ransomware attacks:
Keep a Backup: Ransomware has become so successful because numerous organizations don’t ask their employees who are working remotely to keep an active backup of their critical corporate data. Consistently backing up essential data gives a sigh of relief to your employees against Ransomware attacks, even if they are hit by one since it provides the capacity to re-establish the organization with minimum hassle without coating the pockets of cyber crooks.
Multi-step Verification: Two-step authentication is a must with regard to assisting with shielding the organization from cyberattacks. With 2FA, remote employees can’t succumb to a phishing assault and accidentally give away their business-sensitive data. On the other hand, attackers can’t figure out how to get into your endpoints even if they have your account’s password. Multi-level verification offers a second layer of security that keeps bad actors from effectively breaking into your network/ website/ server and compromising your business security infrastructure.
Use Different Accounts/ Servers: It’s crucial to isolate the organization’s servers, so they aren’t connected to the same network. Keeping/ using one account or server for all your domains, verticals, and backups is not a good idea. In fact, it can adversely affect your business, giving hackers a way to cripple your organization. Make it more challenging for cyber attackers to hit the spot by using different accounts and sub-domains/ servers to operate your business.
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Conclusion
Ransomware has become a thriving criminal enterprise. Beyond the threat actors, there are a variety of affiliates that can help launch Ransomware attacks on your remote workers’ endpoints. Advanced hackers look for vulnerable employees and exposed access credentials so as to establish a beachhead for attack and sell them to the highest bidder.
Since cyber-crooks have tracked down undeniably successful ways for Ransomware attacks, organizations should focus on making their remote workforce robust by providing proper security training and following the tips mentioned above. Offloading most of your cybersecurity woes to a managed security service provider like Ace Cloud Hosting is also a great idea to have a solid security shield for advanced attacks like Ransomware. Managed Email Security by ACH offers advanced tools and resources such as Sandboxing, MITRE ATT&CK based Detection, and around two decades of experience.