Hackers can go on rampage when it comes to Ransomware we have seen cyber threats looming and unless the organizations are big with enough budget to take care of cyber hygiene, it is extremely difficult to stop the menace of Ransomware.
Ransomware as a means of attacking organization or government agencies causing havoc by cyber criminals is not new trend .But over the years the hackers have evolved and gone one stage further and made more sophisticated ransomware attack (RaaS).
If we talk about (RaaS) Rasomware as a service then Raas is all about paying to use malware.
The platform (RaaS) helps or enables user to take all benefits of ransomware coding and operational infrastructure.
As per report from “VirusTotal’s “Ransomware in a Global Context” since 2020, there have been more than 130 different ransomware strains detected.
Ransomware can affect any industry or verticals and no one get spared from such modified RaaS centred cyber-attacks.
Now the question is under such circumstances how important is cyber hygiene procedure to be followed by organizations religiously to avert any danger thwart by Ransomware.
Cyber hygiene is essential when it comes to maintenance of systems and devices used frequently which are connected via internet from security point also. Cybercriminals leave no stone unturned to enter your systems and devices, hack them and are successful in their mission to extract information; data of clients later on use them to demand Ransom.
Cyber security incorporates whole lot of other security issues specifically device and data security in consideration. Incorporating cyber hygiene therefore becomes more essential for organization as it is a matter of reputation. Rasomware attack are basically to do with monetary and financials and if leaked then it bring around huge reputational as well as financial damage.
The threat landscape is vast and this includes cyber hackers, malware, RaaS, phishing attack, virus attack on digital technologies which are used on everyday basis.
Biggest enterprise based threat Ransomware
Combating threats and newer hacking tactics which are evolving with every passing day is often challenging for cyber security professionals.
If anything unnatural on devices ,systems and endpoints devices goes unnoticed it becomes a disease that require more scrutiny and cost is involved. This further causes potential damage as the time period involved between a hack or a ransomware attack and time taken to understand what exactly is the cause of such attack is time consuming.
Cyber attackers are swift and they don’t spare any time to cause big damages or data hack through data encryption causing harassment both for organization and customers.
Cybercriminals often specialize as either malware authors or network penetration specialists. This one of the modus operandi, others being malware development and network penetration.
Ransomware attack a hit in the treasury of organizations
It’s not always ransomware attackers will demand ransom as they quickly go on a spree to cause a tension using RaaS based tools.
- As per 2022 Verizon report, 60% of ransomware incidents did not result in any loss. Many victim organizations either don’t report ransomware attack or don’t pay up ransom. They don’t end up in major loss but in every eventuality data breach happens or network penetration. This again brings in additional cost for organization to them invest and recover from loss.
- IBM in its report “Cost of a Data Breach 2022” report said an average ransom payment of $812,360. The actual ransom payment, however, is only part of the total cost of a ransomware attack, which IBM pegs at $4.5 million on average. IBM also noted that it takes an average of 49 days longer than other types of attacks for organization to identify and remediate ransomware breaches.
Holistic solutions simplest enough to implement
Cybercriminals can specialize as either malware authors or network penetration specialists.
Organizations are deploying endpoint security solutions capable of detecting and remediating ransomware infections. This helps to save critical files from being encrypted.
Ransomware can completely delete OS files. Having a core back up using advance software’s can save the files.
Also it has been noticed that RaaS Models have gained immense popularity over the yrs and very reason why Ransomware continuous its spree. Many Ransoms demanded in form of crypto currency to avoid and evade tax or scrutiny.
Cyber criminals are offering customer service for their victims and a platform portal type to assist victims for paying up via the portal.
So avoiding paying up via any payment portal is a way to protect as once they get access to credentials in future they may go on using the same credentials for financial gains.
In such circumstances it is a major benefit for criminals to operate.
Threat hunting is another way to secure by security teams via analysing critical data and proactively searching the infected systems for any malware.
As organizations move their core applications and services to cloud which is transparent more responsibility comes for security teams to raise the bar and protect enterprise based assets and sensitive data residing in cloud.
Cybercriminals can start using techniques by coaxing victims to instal malicious apps and extensions that request access to their cloud account. Once the attacker has access to their account, they can install the ransomware application and start encrypting their cloud data.
Cybercriminals main target is data therefore more investments in data security is in demand these days. Keeping software s updated and regular patching is the requirement and many attacks can be eliminated timely.
Cyber security communities if they work together in coordination, stay alert and give best training to their security teams subsequently it will become becomes easier to defend from such malicious attack in any vertical of any industry.
(Image courtesy:www.outpost24.com)