A very active threat on the internet that we all have to take steps to avoid is ransomware, a specific strand of malware that encrypts a system’s data then demands ransom to release it. If the user doesn’t give the cybercriminal the set amount of money within a specified amount of time, their data will be lost. Often ransom is demanded in Bitcoin or another cryptocurrency to ensure the transaction isn’t traceable back to the cybercriminal, making it very difficult to identify who or where the threat is coming from.
Although this sounds scary and is very serious, there are steps you can take to greatly reduce your vulnerability to ransomware. New types of malware are being developed all the time, and software providers are constantly updating their systems to protect against emerging threats. It is important that you keep your software and operating systems up to date as a common way of malware infiltrating systems is through holes in out of date software. It’s also imperative that you keep your security software up to date, as that adds an extra layer of protection and will protect against new malware every patch. Another way you can avoid ransomware is to be aware of unexpected or questionable emails, especially if they contain attachments, links, or ask you to enable macros. This is why FutureSpam is useful, a spam filter that can detect junk and threats at domain level. By stopping spam at domain level this means it will not enter your inbox, which is useful as it prevents employees from accidentally clicking on harmful links or content.
The most effective way of combatting ransomware by far is backing up your data – if you have an up to date copy backed up and stored elsewhere then the cybercriminal cannot hold any power over you or your data. We offer a handy solution to backing up your email data – with UltraVault, all incoming and outbound messages are automatically stored, including attachments (you can find out more about our email archiving services on our website).
Using cloud services can also help to reduce the impact a ransomware attack can have on an organisation, as services such as Office 365 autosaves as you work but also stores previous versions of files, allowing you to access the unencrypted version of the file if it was to be attacked.
Find out more about what we offer:
Cloud services: https://smsbusinesscloud.com/products/microsoft-office-365/
Spam filtering/threat protection: https://smsbusinesscloud.com/products/security-compliance/spam-filtering/
UltraVault archiving: https://smsbusinesscloud.com/products/security-compliance/email-archiving/
