Ransomware attacks have turned into one of the biggest threats to cyber security. This attack is experienced by everyone from the local government entities to large organizations.
Alone in 2020, total malware incidents were reported of which 20% of them were credited to ransomware. More than 300 million ransomware attacks were registered, a 60% sharp rise from 2019.
In 2020, a report suggested that worldwide ransomware attacks had cost more than $20.8 billion, which is double the cost of $8.46 billion in 2019.
Nowadays, the cyber criminals have become more sophisticated and knowledgeable in ransomware attacks. Only a small gang of offenders are concerned to attack the system one by one, but the big skilled cyber culprits are targeting large corporate networks and compromising as many as devices.
It becomes very critical and harmful for organizations especially in the sectors such as hospitals, emergency services, government entities, banks, IT organizations to recover from these ransomware attacks as their work will completely break off and their confidential data is breached.
What is Ransomware Attack?
Ransomware is a type of malware that locks and restricts access to a system, device, file, etc., by encrypting the complete data and attackers demand a ransom to be paid to unlock it. The attackers threaten the victim in several ways such as encrypting the data, warning to erase files or block access to the system.
Victims can be affected in multiple ways such as by malicious links, fake applications, infected websites, malicious ads, etc. These sources are enough to inject the malware into the devices and the complete operating system will get encrypted and access will be restricted for the victims.
Then, the attackers demand ransom generally in bitcoin or any other cryptocurrency that is hard to trace, which in return they decrypt the data or provide a decryption key and give access to the victim’s devices.
How Ransomware Malware gains Access to Devices:
One of the most important entry points for ransomware exploits is spam emails, known software vulnerabilities and misconfigurations in the devices and networks, sometimes due to zero-day vulnerabilities.
One of the ways cyber attackers take advantage of Active Directory (AD) and once they penetrate into the systems and networks, they target weaknesses of Active Directory to escalate privileges and publicize their attacks across the organization.
Mitigation Steps to Prevent Ransomware Attack:
Below are the preventive measures and steps to be followed by users and administrators to protect their devices and networks from ransomware attacks:
- Perform Initial Ransomware Assessments: Perform vulnerability assessments and penetration testing to find out the organization’s attack aspect and availability of security tools, skills and processes to protect against attacks.
- Maintain frequent Backups: It is recommended to perform frequent and reliable backup and recover potentials. Backup and encrypt all the data including non- standard applications and their supporting IT infrastructure.
- Limit the Privilege Escalation: Organization should implement the least privilege exercise by limiting the permissions, removing access to local administrator rights for the end users and blocking installation of applications by end users.
- Update Antivirus and Firewall Protection: Implement and keep up-to-date antivirus and firewall protection for the corporate network and scan all downloads from the internet prior to executing. Even now, many antivirus software provides additional features to protect from ransomware such as encrypting the data, or making copies of the files if there is any suspicious activity of ransomware.
- Keep Device Update and apply Security Patches: Regular update the software and operating systems with the latest security patches. This will prevent and make it harder for cyber criminals to exploit and also reduce the number of vulnerable entry points for them.
- Implement Intrusion Detection System (IDS): Implementing IDS in the organization will examine the suspicious activity by comparing network traffic logs to signatures that notice known malicious activity.
- Develop a Recovery Plan and Policies: IT Security team should create and develop an incident response plan to handle ransomware attacks. The recovery plan should enclose all the types of tech disasters and adherence to the business planning and protocol.
- Trained Employees for Security Awareness: Implement security awareness training to the employees of the organization and educate them on security protocol to assess whether any data, attachment, email, or link is trustworthy or not.
- Avoid External Devices: Never use unknown USB sticks and external hard disks. Use only known download sources.
- Do not open Suspicious Email Attachments: Email can also be an entry point to inject ransomware through attachments, links, etc. Check the sender address and make sure the email is trustworthy and never allow macros to run for viewing the email attachment.
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