NEW YORK, Sept.12, 2016
/PRNewswire/ -- Ransomware, which holds business data hostage
until a fee is paid, has taken a sharp upturn this year. In fact, a
recent industry study found that nearly half of all U.S. businesses
have experienced at least one ransomware attack in the past year
alone. While organizations wrestle with the ever-pressing issue of
whether to pay or not to pay if they're victimized, Logicalis US,
an international IT solutions and managed services provider
(www.us.logicalis.com), suggests CXOs focus first on how to
protect, thwart and recover from a potential attack before
developing a pay or don't-pay policy.
To learn more, register to attend tomorrow's Logicalis US
anti-ransomware webinar:
http://ow.ly/BMka303kh7z.
"Ransomware has become one of the most sophisticated criminal
enterprises the world has ever seen," says Ron Temske, Vice President, Security Solutions,
Logicalis US. "As anyone in the business of cybersecurity knows,
we've long battled those who simply wanted to create chaos and
disruption. We've seen nation states attack both military and
civilian targets and 'hacktivists' who act for various social
causes. But ransomware is different in one key way: It's
all about the money. Ransomware is a business, complete
with sophisticated cybercrime-as-a-service offerings and
world-class customer support to ensure its victims' files are
returned expeditiously once the ransom is paid. It's a service
business approaching $1 billion in
annual revenue, something that would be heralded as an
accomplishment if it weren't based on such nefarious principles.
The business of ransomware has even spawned a network of affiliates
that provide redirection of an exploit kit for a cut of the
profits."
Five Ways to Respond to the Threat from Ransomware
To be ready for an attack before it happens, to detect and stop
it while it's happening, or to recover from it after it happens
takes planning. To help, Logicalis' security experts have compiled
a list of the top five ways to respond to the threat ransomware
poses today.
- Create a Modern Defense: Traditional signature-based
anti-virus solutions are good to have, but they aren't up to the
job of thwarting a sophisticated ransomware attack. Neither
is your traditional stateful firewall. As a result, it is
critically important to plan for the possibility of an attack by
developing comprehensive visibility and access to extensive details
on how the malware entered the organization's environment in the
first place. IT pros who are serious about heading ransomware off
at the pass should focus intently on modern next-generation
anti-malware and firewall solutions that can stop an attack before
it starts.
- Take an Architectural Approach: In some limited
situations, point solutions can be effective, but not with
ransomware. The most effective way to address the threat posed by
ransomware and other pervasive cyberattacks is to take a holistic
architectural approach to security that encompasses the entire
network including its systems and endpoints as well as the
organization's cloud and mobile strategies. Because so many of
today's threats are automated, solutions that rely on human
intervention to detect and respond are neither affordable nor
effective, making automation and orchestration key principals in a
solid security architecture design.
- Prevent the Spread of Malware: If an attacker's malware
does enter the network, it has the ability to spread like a
fast-moving cold among passengers on an airplane. The key at
this stage is to compartmentalize data using network
micro-segmentation strategies that make it more difficult for
malware to spread laterally within the environment.
- Plan Your Recovery: The unfortunate truth is, despite
the security industry's best efforts, no organization is entirely
immune to attack. Therefore, it's critical to examine how the
organization will recover if it is breached. First, be sure you're
backing up. Second, test, test and re-test the backup and restore
process; a backup is only valuable if the data can actually be
restored when it's needed. It's also important to ensure that
the restore can be done at the system level since file-based
recovery may not be enough. Consider, too, how much redundancy is
required; if the organization is hit, do you have an uncorrupted
source from which you can immediately recover? And be sure to weigh
the costs of various solutions against the cost of potential loss
or downtime – not all data is equally valuable, which means not all
data needs the same level of protection.
- Create a Pay or No-Pay Policy: Finally, the big
question: To pay or not to pay? No vertical market is having a
tougher time facing this question than healthcare is today; whether
it's critical patient-care data that hackers hold hostage or the
threat of hefty regulatory fines imposed when protected patient
health information (PHI) is breached, healthcare organizations have
become prime targets for ransomware attacks. Before any
organization – healthcare or otherwise – pays a ransom, however,
Temske suggests examining how much damage will be done if you don't
pay. Do you have an uncompromised data backup from which you can
restore? What is the cost to restore vs. pay – both monetarily and
in terms of the business' ability to function in the meantime?
Ultimately, the decision comes down to how business-critical the
compromised data is to the organization. If you do decide to pay,
Temske has one word of advice: "Negotiate. In most cases, you can
talk the price down, so it may make sense to consider not paying
the first amount offered."
Want to Learn More?
- Is your company's data at risk from ransomware, and what can
you do to protect it? Find out in a Logicalis US anti-ransomware
webinar: http://ow.ly/BMka303kh7z.
- Learn why your company is not safe from hackers, then explore
10 tough security questions every CIO must be able to answer:
http://ow.ly/qFC3303Hjtt.
- Your organization may not have been breached yet, but it will
be; find out what you can do about it here:
http://ow.ly/RAtV303HjAm.
About Logicalis
Logicalis is an international
multi-skilled solution provider providing digital enablement
services to help customers harness digital technology and
innovative services to deliver powerful business outcomes.
Our customers cross industries and geographical regions; our
focus is to engage in the dynamics of our customers' vertical
markets including financial services, TMT (telecommunications,
media and technology), education, healthcare, retail, government,
manufacturing and professional services, and to apply the skills of
our 4,000 employees in modernizing key digital pillars, data center
and cloud services, security and network infrastructure, workspace
communications and collaboration, data and information strategies,
and IT operation modernization.
We are the advocates for our customers for some of the world's
leading technology companies including Cisco, HPE, IBM, NetApp,
Microsoft, VMware and ServiceNow.
The Logicalis Group has annualized revenues of over $1.5 billion from operations in Europe, North
America, Latin America and
Asia Pacific. It is a division of
Datatec Limited, listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange and the
AIM market of the LSE, with revenues of over $6.5 billion.
For more information, visit www.us.logicalis.com.
Business and technology working as one
To learn more about Logicalis activities through a variety of
social media outlets, click here.
Media contacts:
Nickie
Peters, Director of Marketing,
Logicalis US
nickie.peters@us.logicalis.com
920-338-7622
www.us.logicalis.com
Karen Franse, Communication
Strategy Group for Logicalis US
kfranse@gocsg.com
866-997-2424
www.gocsg.com
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