Ransomware Readiness: Building a Bulletproof Data Protection Plan

Ransomware is a real threat to any organization that processes valuable or sensitive information. Ransomware attacks have hit companies of all sizes worldwide in the past three years. Threat actors constantly devise new and sophisticated methods to introduce ransomware into your computing environment. A successful ransomware attack can be devastating to an unprepared business.

Organizations need a strong data protection plan to safeguard themselves from ransomware. Companies that take the necessary protective steps limit the risk of falling victim to an attack and mitigate the effects of a successful incursion.

What are the Dangers of Ransomware?

Ransomware attacks focus on a company’s valuable data resources. A typical ransomware attack begins with a threat actor infiltrating an IT environment and searching for a high-value system. The attack then encrypts the data of this business-critical system, rendering it unavailable and useless to the organization.

The perpetrators demand payment of a financial ransom to decrypt and restore access to the data. Victims without an effective plan to counteract the attack may have no recourse but to pay the ransom. Most companies cannot afford to lose access to mission-critical data for an extended period.

Organizations must be aware of the following dangers of a ransomware attack.

The affected data will be unavailable to the organization and its customers and may result in substantial business losses.
Companies may violate regulatory compliance if regulated data, such as healthcare information, is unavailable.
Criminals may attempt to corrupt the restore media to inhibit the ability to recover from the attack.
Organizations have no guarantee that criminals behind a ransomware attack will restore access if a ransom is paid.

Companies without a plan to address a ransomware attack needlessly expose themselves to these dangers. They should take action to develop and implement a robust data protection plan.

Components of an Effective Data Protection Plan

An effective data protection plan requires several technical components and a corporate culture emphasizing cybersecurity. Companies must include the following elements in their data protection plans to safeguard their businesses from ransomware.

Robust anti-malware measures

Data protection begins by keeping malware out of the computing environment. IT teams must implement strong network and system access policies to keep unauthorized entities out of the infrastructure. Companies should enforce these policies with comprehensive monitoring tools to detect suspicious activity and eliminate potential malware.

Reliable data backup procedures

Backups are an essential part of any data protection strategy. Organizations must ensure that data is backed up regularly to a secure location and readily available when recovery is required. Cloud backups are automatically stored offsite and offer a cost-efficient method of backing up the infrastructure.

Companies must consider the benefits of immutable backups that threat actors cannot modify. This type of backup offers additional protection against ransomware attacks that try to corrupt backups, making it impossible for victimized organizations to recover their systems. Reliable, current, and immutable backups are essential for efficiently recovering after a ransomware attack.

Effective disaster recovery plans

Most organizations would categorize a successful ransomware attack on a business-critical system as a disaster. Systems and data required for critical business operations may suddenly be unavailable for an unknown period. The IT team must recover the affected systems as quickly as possible. Efficient recovery requires a tested and effective disaster recovery plan.

Companies should develop disaster recovery plans for all critical systems. The plan must include detailed recovery instructions and information about the personnel responsible for recovering the systems. Teams should test the plans to identify weaknesses that can be strengthened before they are called upon to address a disaster. Ideally, a company can recover without significant business impacts.

Continuous workforce cybersecurity training and education

Organizations must continuously emphasize the importance of maintaining a secure workplace and business practices. Employees should take cybersecurity training to keep threats out of the environment. The training should include updated information regarding new phishing techniques threat actors use to breach security.

Management must hold employees responsible for implementing and following policies and standards. It takes a concerted effort to maintain a secure environment and defend against ransomware.

VAST Data Protection Solutions and Services

VAST has your back with the following data protection solutions and services to help protect your business from the dangers of ransomware.

Cloud Backup-as-a-Service (CBaaS)

VAST’s CBaaS offering enables companies to protect their valuable data efficiently and economically. Organizations can take advantage of virtually limitless cloud storage and avoid the expense of deploying and managing a backup infrastructure. Druva’s cutting-edge technology powers the service and efficiently backs up your cloud, on-premises, and edge systems.

Benefits of our CBaaS service include:

Managed cloud-based backups that align with your business strategy;
Immutable backups that cannot be corrupted by malware;
Predictable budgeting with fixed pricing.

Disaster Recovery-as-a-Service (DRaaS)

Many companies find that protecting themselves by maintaining a dedicated disaster recovery site is an overly expensive proposition. VAST DRaaS solution eliminates the costs associated with a dedicated site and offers enhanced resiliency by enabling recovery in alternate geographic regions. The service lets companies of any size protect themselves with a reliable disaster recovery strategy.

The DRaaS service is built on AWS Elastic Disaster Recovery and offers customers the following features.

Companies only pay for the entire disaster recovery site when needed.
Teams can perform point-in-time recoveries in minutes.
The service provides a unified process to test, recover, and failover without specialized skills.
Companies can easily add or remove replicating servers as business needs change.

Security lifecycle review

Our team uses Palo Alto Security Life Cycle Review (SLR) to gain an understanding of your IT environment’s security status. We will help you identify potential risks that may make your company vulnerable to a ransomware attack. SLR provides a view of the applications, cloud services, and files used by the workforce so they can be protected more effectively. The review can also help detect dormant malware so teams can remove it before it damages the environment.