Recovering from ransomware requires you to create a proactive plan of action ahead of time. This way, you are not scrambling in panic at the last moment. One of the key preventative measures against ransomware involves backups. Businesses that do not focus on a backup end up paying high price in ransom fees. Preparedness is therefore a very necessary endeavor when it comes to encountering ransomware. Preparedness in this instance refers to having backups and a plan in place.
How Ransomware Infects Computers
There are many ways how ransomware attacks files. It can be through tablets, phones, desktops or any other device. Files can contain valuable data that is very important for businesses. Hackers and malicious actors are always trying to access valuable business data, so that they can use it to their advantage. When deploying a malware attack, a hacker is essentially using malware.
Ransomware is malware layered underneath a ransom threat. Once hacker gets inside the businesses system, they create an encryption process that will run and lock the files. This means that you will no longer be able to access critical files. When this happens, the hacker sends out a message asking for a specific money transfer to an untraceable account.
This transaction often refers to digital currencies such as a Bitcoin. The message further says that the hacker will release the decryption key if you make the digital currency transaction of a specific amount. They will often demand a Bitcoin transaction most commonly.
Once the hacker sends you the decryption fee, you can move forward and decrypt the data. In general, hackers want to encourage the behavior of getting paid. However, it is important to note that there is no guarantee that the decryption key will work.
Costs of Ransomware
To better understand the cost of ransomware, you need to first consider the ransom fees that you will have to pay to gain access to the data. Other costs can come from rebuilding the server, workstation and workflows. However, the real cost of ransomware comes from downtime.
The average ransomware incident can last about 16 days. This is the amount of time it can usually take when trying to recover from a ransomware attack. This is also the amount of time when your business is not operating. 16 days can be very impactful for your business to be non-operational.
In other words, the cost of not being able to do business can range to about millions of dollars in unproductive and vacant time spent by a business. If your business is reliant on online services, then you cannot afford to be offline. Very few technical issues can be more annoying than IT downtime.
Downtime Troubles
Not being able to access your systems will leave business owners very frustrated. This is because it puts a halt to any project that must come into completion. It will also leave contracts unsigned and customers unsatisfied. In addition to costing businesses, excessive IT downtime can also come with a heavy price tag.
Backup Protection
In the event of a ransomware attack, your backups will be the only hope. This is why it is integral for you to integrate solutions that safeguard your backups. A thorough and comprehensive anti-ransomware strategy can contribute vastly to the reduction of downtime and business continuity. There are many tactics and strategies that you can consider to protect your backups.
Since the ransomware threats and attacks are rapidly evolving, protecting your data does not simply mean backing up. Neither can you only rely on backup anomaly detection to indicate any data compromise. Threat detection tools are only designed to identify changes in the backup data.
Detection of data compromise should occur much earlier from the time of infection. Thus, the first thing that an organization needs to focus on is detection. Paired with identification, organizations must also incorporate AI-based security methods. Remediation workflows can be automated, and companies should leverage from a modern automated response platform.
AI based Security
AI driver user and entity behavioral analytics can identify potential risks as a hacker accesses sensitive data. When using this technique, It becomes possible to detect any malicious intent towards data in an anomalous and risky manner. These techniques can even differentiate between normal access of users along with insider threats and ransomware compromise.
Cohesity’s Threat Defense Architecture
With Cohesity, you can combat the evolving and modern ransomware threats. Threat defense architecture of Cohesity provides users with a highly resilient platform that ensures protection of data with integral capabilities. These capabilities include immutability, encryption and fault tolerance. Their data resiliency strategies are augmented with thorough access control functionality. This ensures that every entity that accesses the data management platform can adhere to a zero trust principle.
This means that all access will be met with no implicit trust protocols, along with authorization and authentication to the API based points of entry. This protocol is further solidified with the support of security features such as multifactor authentication and granular role based access control. They also use specialized auditing and monitoring services to further integrate compliance and operational integrity across the entirety of your platform.
Cohesity’s Uniqueness
Cohesity stands out as a data protection services because it incorporates a thickly layered approach when offering protection. One of its additional layers have to do with detection and analytics, which are a set of advanced capabilities that range from data classification to near real-time threat detection. It also helps incorporate adaptive behavioral analytics to a business’s online platform.
Allow VAST to Help You Leverage Cohesity
Having the Cohesity powered detection and analytics capabilities will provide you with the knowledge of where your sensitive data resides. Powered with this insight, you will be able to proactively address compliance issues that make your data vulnerable to ransomware attacks.
As you can see, the Cohesity backup and recovery solution is more than just a backup option. Instead, it is a complete protection package that offers protection that is paired with automation, augmentation, analytics and more. Allow VAST to help you systematically utilize Cohesity as a part of their cyber security services.
