Minimising The Impact Of Ransomware
Uploaded on 2021-07-09 in TECHNOLOGY--Resilience, FREE TO VIEW
Ransomware attacks are growing in size and frequency and are threatening businesses all around the world. As more employees return to offices after working from home for months on end, cyber security dangers are a big concern. Cyber experts say malware or something malicious may be waiting for them on their devices. The rapid shift to remote working triggered by the pandemic has also underlined significant cyber security threats for employers and employees alike, as the head of the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre recently warned that ransomware has become the biggest threat to British people and businesses. "For the vast majority of UK citizens and businesses, and indeed for the vast majority of critical national infrastructure providers and government service providers, the primary key threat is not state actors but cyber criminals,” Lindy Cameron said.
Ransomware is a type of malware commonly used by cyber criminals to make money by extortion.
Malware: Software programs that enable cyber criminals to take over an electronic device once it is infected. The majority of ransomware attacks begin with phishing emails and the cyber criminals hide the malware in an attachment that poses as a benign file, like an invoice or a report. As soon as the victim opens the attachment, the ransomware spreads through their device, locking files and leaving behind a ransom note.
• causing a device to become locked or unusable
• stealing, deleting or encrypting data
• taking control of your devices to attack other organisations
• obtaining credentials which allow access to your organisation's systems or services that you use
• 'mining' crypto currency
• using services that may cost you money (e.g. premium rate phone calls).
Ransomware: Is a type of malware that prevents you from accessing your computer and or the data that is stored on it. The computer itself may become locked, or the data on it might be stolen, deleted or encrypted. Once infected, there are numerous ways cyber criminals can leverage the victim’s system for profit, such as collecting credit card data which they then sell, harvesting logins and passwords to people’s bank accounts. They then use the account to steal and transfer money, finding personal information which they leverage for identity fraud, or connect the victim’s computer into a botnet for attacks such as Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks.
Ransomware has proven to be one of the fastest and more profitable than almost any other attack.
Once cyber criminals infect a single computer in an organisation, they do not immediately demand a ransom. Instead, they use that infected system to stealthily infect other computers in the organisation, perhaps even the backups. Not until the cyber criminals believe almost every system has been infected, and not until they have exfiltrated an extensive amount of data will they then enable the ransomware, encrypt all the devices, and notify the organisation.
Should Victims Pay Ransom?: Law enforcement do not encourage, endorse, nor condone the payment of ransom demands. even f you do pay the ransom, there is no guarantee that you will get access to your data or computer and you will still be infected. Attackers will also threaten to publish data if payment is not made.
Organisations should take measures to minimise the impact of data exfiltration.
In today’s highly organised cyber-criminal world, there are entire organisations dedicated to continually developing malware that cannot be detected. Four key issues to focus on for ransomware are:
Social Engineering: These types of attacks, especially phishing, are one of the primary methods cyber attackers use to infect systems. Train people on how to spot and stop phishing attacks.
Passwords: Weak or insecure passwords are another very common way cyber attackers break into organisations today. Provide the training and tools to ensure people are using strong passwords.
Updating: Updated and current systems are much harder for cyber attackers to infect with malware. We want to ensure people are always using the most current operating systems and applications. In some cases, you may want to emphasise the importance of enabling automatic updating.
Training: Lessons for your workforce on how to report a suspected infected computer. Ensure they feel comfortable reporting, even if they know they caused the infection.
If your organisation has a punitive or toxic security culture, people may be hesitant or even afraid to report they caused an infected system, so avoid a 'blame' culture and make sure employees feel comfortable reporting.
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