#1: Ransomware Threats

Building protection and resilience against cyberattacks

Simply put, ransomware is a form of malicious malware that encrypts an organization’s data and potentially “hijacks” its most sensitive information. Attackers demand the victimized company pay a ransom to receive a decryption key, retrieve its files, and prevent data from being distributed or sold elsewhere.

In 2021, ransomware attacks grew in their scope, frequency, and cost, according to Forbes. Continued growth in all three areas is expected throughout 2022.

An evil evolution

Ransomware attacks are growing in sophistication with the rise of nation-state sponsored attacks. Perhaps more troubling, some offending organizations are franchising their nefarious deeds to others in the form of ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS).

In RaaS instances, the franchising organizations provide attackers with tools of the trade for encryption, ransom collection, and more in exchange for a percentage of the collected ransom.

Unfortunately, hybrid work environments have become prime targets for more—and more severe—ransomware schemes. Many organizations struggle to adopt the resources necessary to defend against and keep pace with elusive attackers, especially when it comes to ongoing system maintenance and proactively plugging gaps.

Improving response and resilience

As awareness grows around the proliferation and disastrous consequences of ransomware attacks, security teams are seeking solutions that enable continuous monitoring and automate processes for detection and response.

For instance, Extended Detection & Response automatically collects and correlates data from multiple security products to improve threat detection and incident response. Solutions combine alerts triggered by email, endpoint, and network security controls into a single incident, enabling analysts to conduct thorough investigations.

CIOs and other executive leaders are also focusing on building ransomware resiliency into their business plans. Resiliency strategies often include:

Protecting the backup server and components
Implementing capabilities for ransomware detection
Ultra-resilient backup storage
Configuring multiple recovery techniques
Protecting endpoints and network-attached storage
Encrypting backup data
Orchestrating recoveries of backups and replicas

²Security Magazine
³Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report