How to Protect Your Business from the Threat of Ransomware

Ransomware is still a problem for businesses of all industries and sizes, from small mom-and-pop shops to the large enterprise. If you’re unprepared for a ransomware attack, you’re looking at significant consequences, many of which affect your business beyond the budget.

Today, we’re taking a look at ransomware in the context of what it is: an existential threat to your business.

How Ransomware Works

Ransomware usually starts the same way as any other cyberthreat, like an employee downloading an infected attachment, visiting a compromised website, or clicking on the wrong link, and things go downhill quickly.

Once the ransomware has access to your network, it gets to work spreading and encrypting files, rendering them inaccessible. Once the systems are encrypted, the hacker will then demand a ransom payment in the form of cryptocurrency in exchange for the decryption key. Either the victim pays up and loses money while furthering the aims of the hacker, or the victim risks prolonged downtime and permanent data loss.

Some of the more sophisticated ransomware attacks will even threaten to distribute your encrypted data or sell it to the highest bidder on the black market if you fail to pay up. As you can imagine, this type of double or triple extortion makes it even more difficult to make the right call, which is generally accepted to be not paying the hacker.

The Devastating Consequences

SMBs have a lot to lose from a successful ransomware attack—far more than you might even realize.

Large companies have the resources to address serious security concerns, but SMBs often don’t have dedicated security teams or powerful recovery plans. This means they’re facing financial strain in some form as a result of the attack, whether it’s through operational issues, paying the ransom, or recovering the data. The associated damage to your reputation means that you’ll have a harder time acquiring new clients, and the potential fallout for not complying with data regulations and compliance could be the final nail in the coffin.

So if you’re still on the fence about whether you need to worry about ransomware, the answer is an emphatic yes… every organization needs to be prepared for when ransomware strikes.

Proactive Measures You Can Take Today

All security professionals agree that the best way to protect your business from ransomware is to stop it in its tracks before it takes root.

We recommend you start with powerful endpoint security solutions, up-to-date antivirus solutions, and other comprehensive security measures. You should then supplement these measures with employee training so your entire team knows what to do should they encounter such a serious threat. Furthermore, we recommend that you implement a data backup and disaster recovery plan, as it can help you restore unencrypted files in the event of an infection (provided the infection doesn’t also take out your backups).

Really, the best thing you can do is be ready and hope you never have to deal with ransomware attacks. The reality is that you are very likely to experience one if you haven’t already.

If you’re ready to do something about the threat of ransomware, you should know you can contact Suffolk Computer Consultants for help. Learn more today by calling us at 631-905-9617.