Blog

How to Prevent Ransomware Attacks: Key Preparation Strategies

When it comes to tackling ransomware, preparation is key. The problem most businesses find is that it can be hard to decide how to tackle cyber security and data protection, in order to better protect themselves from ransomware.

In this guide, we outline what ransomware is, why it’s becoming more and more relentless, and how you can prevent ransomware attacks in the future. Read on to learn more about this important topic.

What is ransomware?

Ransomware remains a significant threat to organisations worldwide. It’s a type of cyberattack where malicious software is used to encrypt or lock a victim’s data, demanding a ransom payment for its release.

While the tactics haven’t changed significantly, the scale and sophistication of ransomware attacks have increased dramatically. According to Sophos’ State of Ransomware 2024 report, the average cost of a ransomware attack has continued to rise.

Key Updates for 2024:

Increased Ransom Demands:
While the report doesn’t mention a specific record-breaking ransom payment like the $50 million incident in 2021, it’s likely that larger sums have been demanded and paid in recent years.

Rising Remediation Costs:
The cost of recovering from a ransomware attack has continued to increase due to factors like data recovery, business disruption, and potential legal expenses.

Data Recovery Challenges:
While the exact percentage may have fluctuated, data recovery remains a significant challenge for many victims, even after paying a ransom.

Why is ransomware becoming more and more relentless?

There are many more ransomware operations out there now, which are far more sophisticated in the attacks that they carry out. The payouts for these attacks are also much higher.

Not only that, but the way in which we operate now is much more ‘connected’ and insecure than we ever have been. The shift in how businesses have had to operate, mainly having to transition to a remote working model (especially during the pandemic), means that there has been an even bigger increase in ransomware. In fact, there has been a huge 105% year-on-year increase in the number of ransomware attacks according to SonicWall. Alt text - A lady working from a kitchen table at home, with her left hand she’s typing on her laptop keyboard and with her right hand she’s writing in a notepad.

One of the main reasons for this is that employees are now accessing company files and data outside the secure perimeter of the corporate network, making it easy pickings for cyber-attackers to do their worst. In addition to this the number of malicious emails circulating was up 600% during the pandemic period (ABC News). This meant that the chances of people getting infected were a lot greater.

With the increase of attacks and new strains of threats on the rise, the consequences of not being prepared are serious and costly. Companies need to ensure that they are fully prepared by taking the right precautions to protect their data and stop the cyber-criminals right in their tracks.

How to protect against ransomware

Cyber Security Solutions

Firstly, you need to look at your cyber security and your first line of defence as a whole. Ransomware is a type of cyber-attack. Therefore, having robust network security is essential in recognising early indicators before they develop into something more sinister. You should always make sure to always keep firewalls, anti-virus software, and endpoint detection up to date!

A multi-layered approach to ransomware can really enhance prevention, extending visibility and protection across the entire network. Instead of constantly reacting, security vendors like our partner Cynet allow you to prevent ransomware, and then diminish its impact if it does manage to break through your defences.

Employee Education

Employees are officially the weakest link in an organisation’s network. Therefore, ensuring that yourA man working on a desktop computer drinking a coffee. There’s a large warning notification on his computer screen. employees are thoroughly trained on ransomware and security awareness is one of the most effective ways to protect your business from a ransomware attack. It’s hard to believe, and as a result can quite often be overlooked,. This is in spite of employees’ everyday routine tasks like checking their emails potentially putting a business at risk of being exploited.

Did you know that 91% of successful data breaches started with a spear phishing attack? (KnowBe4). With facts like these and the sophistication of phishing and ransomware attacks rising, employee security awareness training has never been more important!

Incident Response

To be in the best position to survive ransomware or cyber-attack, you need to have an Incident Response plan in place. This is where you can utilise your security service provider’s extensive knowledge to look for gaps in your security, where ransomware malware could infiltrate your network.

At Covenco we will put together a bespoke Incident Response plan that’s best suited to your particular business needs. We will then thoroughly test the plan and present you with any necessary recommendations. This means that if the worst were to happen, you would be ready to bring the situation back under control.

Disaster Recovery

To be prepared for a ransomware attack you should have a Disaster Recovery plan in place – to wait until an attack happens is too late, and you will likely lose your data or have to pay a hefty ransom. To have a robust DR strategy means that you have a documented process of what to do should disaster strike. This leaves you with a better chance of recovering.

Covenco’s Disaster Recovery services provide consistent and continuous recovery and replication of all business-critical workloads. We will ensure minimal downtime, so your business will be back up and operating in no time.

Automated and Regular Backups

When it comes to ransomware, it pulls no punches, and it will target backup servers once they force their way into an organisation’s network. They know that if they can disable or delete the backups, they stand a much better chance of being paid a ransom. Backups really are the only guaranteed way to save your data after a ransomware attack.

3-2-1 Backup Rule

 A diagram of the 3-2-1-1 backup principle in red, orange and white.

In order to protect your backups, you should adopt the 3-2-1 backup rule. It is a long-standing best practice for all backup and recovery strategies. At Covenco, we have taken the rule a step further and have always insisted that any backup solution should meet the 3-2-1-1 backup principle (3 copies of data across 2 different media types – 1 copy off-site, and 1 copy offline).

It is essential to implement automated, regular backups so that you will always have a safe version of your data backed up and available. There are several best practices that you should follow when it comes to your backup strategy, to allow maximum protection and recovery if the worst were to happen. These include:

Local Backups

It is imperative for any business to have a good local backup for their data. The design should ensure that the backup infrastructure is resilient and scalable. Ensure, if possible, that your local backups are stored on an immutable backup platform. Your backup software should support features like Veeam Backup & Replication and their hardened Linux repository.

This will be your 1st line of recovery and if that is Immutable, then you are always reassured that should you be compromised, your backups cannot be encrypted, changed, or deleted.

Online Offsite Backups

To protect against all disaster scenarios, off-site Online backups provide you with an offsite copy of data for recovery at an alternate location.  We often find that any organisation that has suffered from a ransomware attack will immediately try to understand, how they have been breached and how far the breach has spread across their network.

During this time, the business is largely immobilised and the longer this continues, the more the business and its reputation will suffer.  Having an off-site copy to recover from is an extremely important part of the overall business continuity plan.

Offline or Air-gapped Backups

Keeping a secondary offline, or air-gapped, backup of your data ensures additional recovery options in the event of a ransomware attack. This is pretty much impossible for ransomware to infiltrate through as it is completely unreachable.

A simple and effective way to achieve this is through a Tape Backup Service –  it is a great option for long-term data retention and is still the most cost-effective method, especially with larger data volumes.

Immutable Backup

Immutable backups have got to be the most efficient protection against ransomware! They ensure your data is always recoverable, as it cannot be deleted, changed, or altered in any way. So, even if your legacy backup systems are attacked, you will always be able to recover your immutable, untouched data.

Test, Test, and Test again.

With data so valuable, it would seem ridiculous to not test all the procedures and solutions that you have worked hard to put in place. If a test were to fail, at least the problem can be fixed before your data is lost for real.

Don’t forget to ask the Experts

Covenco is an IT services provider that partners with the leading security and data protection vendors to offer world-class infrastructure and security solutions to our customers. Our team has over 20 years of experience helping organisations to put in place bespoke data protection and management solutions that work for them and their unique set of circumstances.

Get in touch with our team today on 0845 2070 999 or fill in the form below to discuss your requirements and to keep you one step ahead of a ransomware attack.

Contact us

Complete this form below and someone will be in touch shortly.

Frequently asked questions

How can ransomware be prevented?

In order to significantly reduce your chances of being infected by ransomware, we recommend doing the following:

  • Avoid opening emails from unknown senders;
  • Avoid opening or downloading attachments, files or links from unknown senders;
  • Keep your cyber security applications up to date.

What is the best protection against ransomware?

There is no single best protection against ransomware, in order to sufficiently protect you and your company from infections, we recommend installing the following:

  • Virus scanners for mail services
  • Content filters for mail services
  • Internet security solutions

What are the three main ways to protect yourself from ransomware infection?

  1. Ensure that you’re on top of software updates, particularly for any cyber security solutions;
  2. Regularly back up your data;
  3. Ensure your company has sufficient security training, and that the training is up-to-date.