Protection against ransomware is one most crucial plans for a business.
What exactly is ransomware?
The definition of ransomware is a vicious type of malware that can lock users from getting into their devices or blocks any access to files until a ransom of a large sum of money is paid. For a business a ransomware attack causes:
• Data loss;
• Downtime;
• Data breach;
• Intellectual property theft.
For a small business this can bankrupt the company especially if they are just getting started, or just cash poor. This is the reason that a disaster recovery plan needs to be developed, and tested. Us at Vision Quest can help with this, business continuity, meaning backups that are tested daily, and take a whole copy of your server every 5 minutes. Get infected? Roll the server back to 5 minutes before the infection.
Variants
There are various variants; some attack only windows PCs while there are other strains that infect Macs or even mobile devices. This kind of malware is very effective since the methods of encryption or blocking of the files are almost impossible to de-crypt short of paying the ransom.
Attack
Ransomware gets installed on a company’s workstation – PC or Mac – by using a social engineering attack where users get tricked into clicking on a link or opening an unknown attachment. And once the machine is infected with malware, it begins to encrypt all data files it will find as well as any network that PC has access to.
Ransomware protection
The major part of ransomware protection is making at least two backups of all business’ systems data and this should be done daily. One backup should be stored off site. Some believe that the best program for this is Altaro backups.
Do this today
If you do not have a plan in place for your small business against ransomware, contact us immediately for a free security assessment. This is vital protection to keep your business from total disaster.
