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Today, cyberattacks are causing so much damage to companies worldwide. One of the causes of damage is a ransomware attack.
Ransomware is malware that targets system vulnerabilities. It is designed to deny users access to files on their computers by encrypting these files and demanding a ransom payment for the decryption key. This means that ransomware gangs demand ransom payments for the encrypted data. Generally, there are two main methods for recovering data that has been attacked by ransomware:
- Recovering data from another backup source that has not been hit by ransomware.
- Paying the ransom to get your data in case you don’t have data backups.
You can prevent cyber threats by implementing multiple layers of security measures, improving threat detection, and learning to back up data and determine how to recover data when attacked. This will reduce the value of damages.
However, according to the latest research findings of a cybersecurity company supported by Sophos, surveying nearly 3,000 IT and security experts in 14 countries found that 94% of organizations were hit by ransomware attacks targeting their backup data.
Ransomware gangs are now evolving their strategies to increase their chances of attack by seeking new ways to circumvent security measures, creating more elusive malware to find and target the most sensitive data.
Cybercriminals are spending more time spying on systems, creating strategies called double extortion, such as the Maze and LockBit gangs that stole company data and threatened to disclose it to the public in addition to encrypting the data.
Ransomware gangs are also targeting backups so that victims cannot recover their data themselves or choose a ransom payment because the cost of data recovery is too high compared to paying the ransom.
According to Sophos’s reports, the victims whose backups are attacked have to pay the ransom twice as much as the victims whose general data is stolen. They are more likely to pay the ransom to recover their data because the attack disrupts business operations while finding a way to recover it. This causes the loss of income, reliability, and business opportunities, and there is no more choice to recover data except paying a high ransom.
Therefore, the best way to prevent ransomware attacks is to backup data multiple times and store it in multiple locations, including on the cloud and offline. Additionally, you must prepare a backup plan and practice data recovery procedures when attacked.
Ransomware is evolving to this level, so we must develop better data security strategies. If you create backups and place them in a safe location, you won’t be a victim of ransomware gangs anymore.
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