End Ransomware Threats with a Good Backup Strategy

“3 things you can’t recover in life: the word after it’s said, the moment after it’s missed, the time after it’s gone.”

-Ziad K. Abdelnour

Guess what, so is your valuable information stored carelessly.

All the data of your organization stored on your computers or servers is prone to the risk of being stolen, more like being kidnapped by hackers. These cybercriminals abduct all the information on your computer by infecting it with malicious software and follow the tradition by demanding ransom for its release, hence the moniker, ransomware.

I’m sure you would have heard about the recent infamous ransomware attacks such as MegaCortex, TSMC, WannaCry, NotPetya, Atlanta, SamSam which have cost the companies millions if not billions of dollars of losses. It would’ve compelled you to understand more about ransomware and steer clear of it.

There are various studies which predict that the situation will worsen soon (around 2021) with a new organization falling victim to ransomware every 11 seconds! The survey also clarifies that the companies that will get infected may already be running the latest endpoint protection.

Once infected, the malware penetrates the entire network like wildfire, locking data using strong encryption. No prizes for guessing what happens next! These fraudsters demand a ransom.

No organization irrespective of its size or domain is entirely immune to a ransomware attack. Hackers target organizations based on, how much money they would be willing to pay to get their data back. Hence, let us follow the golden rule – “Better Safe Than Sorry.”

BACKUP. ALWAYS BACKUP YOUR DATA!

Read More about Rapid Data Recovery here

Ransomware attacks capitalize on your fear – your fear of getting locked out of your machine, losing access to mission-critical data disrupting business operations or personal data. You could always turn the game around by regularly backing up your data. You can then effortlessly restore all your data and pay no heed to the demands of the hacker hence discouraging cyber crimes such as a ransomware attack.

Backups not only lend a hand in the aftermath of an attack but can also help you prevent it in the first place. Vital statistics in the backup logs show signs of a possible infection. Monitoring them regularly can help you restrain the damage.

There is a world of difference between back up and a GOOD back up.

• A back up is said to be a good one provided it can restore data reliably and quickly. Some victims of ransomware have had to pay ransom despite having backups because the backup didn’t have enough granularity or some of them thought they had a backup of their data, but in reality, they hadn’t!
• Another method to make a good back up is by following the 3-2-1 rule. Make 3 copies of the data – 2 of them in different formats and 1 stored offline because no device connected to the internet is perfectly safe.
• One of the best practices is to back up data frequently and incrementally. More frequent the backup, more precise is the data restored.
• Last but not the least, make sure that your backup is not infected by ransomware! Don’t restore the malware along with your data to end up in a vicious cycle. Sophisticated hackers can implant attack capabilities in systems and have them lay dormant for an extended time to propagate the ransomware throughout the enterprise’s backups later. To limit the possibility of re-infection, back up only data files and not system files.

All in all, a GOOD backup can save your data from being digitally kidnapped and in turn end the threat of ransomware.