Ransomware Prevention: Shield Your Business Today

Ransomware Prevention: Shield Your Business Today

Introduction

Ransomware Prevention: Ransomware is a common cyber attack that mostly threatens businesses that are establishing their online presence. While hackers tend to target more significant organizations like hospitals and government-run systems, they now focus more on businesses because of the new online trend we’re all riding.

Ransomware might be a sly cyber threat, but the good news is that you can prevent it from happening. In this article, we’ll provide you with useful bits you can take note of to protect your business from cybercrimes. We’ll also tackle what you should do if you encountered a ransomware attack, so read on!

How Can You Prevent a Ransomware Attack?

Most of the points we have below are common-sense preventive methods; still, it would be great to take note of them because you never know when these come in handy. It’s also important to point out that antivirus software and other security programs should be one of your investment priorities for your business. Here’s how you can prevent ransomware attacks:

• Scan your computers with an antivirus program regularly.
• Ensure that your system firewall is always active.
• Instruct your employees about the best practices for cybersecurity.
• Make sure that you have a back-up of all your files and that you store them offline as well.
• Be updated on your operating system’s security patches.
• Always filter your emails to avoid spam.
• Reduce the administrative privileges you give your employees.
• Switch your password system into a two-factor authentication to strengthen the data protection.

What You Can Do When You Get Attacked

By any chance that you encounter a ransomware attack, the preventive measures above won’t work. However, you can do several things to limit the effects you’ll have once the threat has been tackled.

Quarantine the infected devices.

Before all your computers get the ransomware, isolate the infected ones by turning them off and disconnecting it from your network. Check each device and its system, and initiate this step.

Eliminate the malware and assess your device for security holes.

Prevent malware from spreading and causing further damages by eliminating it from your system. Don’t forget to inform the authorities about this attack so that you can handle it better. Change all your passwords and do a system assessment check to distinguish where the cyber attack may have started.

Notify your employees and clients.

Inform your employees and your clients right away. Let your prospects know that they might encounter problems in the customer service area and your estimated time when it will be resolved.

Inform your insurance company.

If you choose to pay for the ransom, it’s best to contact your cyber liability insurance issuer if you’re part of the program. Doing so can help you handle the situation better and possibly cover the awaiting costs, such as the ransom fee, business downtime and interruption, IT expert hiring expenses, and the cost of informing your clients.

Take your corresponding response into consideration.

It’s time for you to decide how you’ll respond to a ransomware attack. Aside from paying the ransom straight away, keep in mind that you can also turn to other choices so think twice before you do your next step. You can do one of the following points:

• Regain your access. This method can be done for a locker ransomware type because you’ll just need an expert to unlock your device’s screen and system.
• Restore data. You can do this through backing up your system into its recent version.
• Drop your data. If you think that the infected data serve no significance for your business, you can just forfeit it and let it fall to the hackers’ hands.
• Pay for the ransom fee. This choice is your last resort. Still, remember the hackers may or may not restore your access to the data even after you paid the ransom. Simply put, this method doesn’t guarantee success.