Ransomware attacks in the United Kingdom doubled between 2020 and 2021. Businesses that don’t take preventative measures face downtime, fines and damage to their reputation.
Fortunately, some diligence and common sense can help you protect your business. Follow these steps to defend yourself from ransomware in 2022.
Practice essential countermeasures
Before trying any of the other tips in this post, check your security posture. Do you spend enough time keeping your IT assets secure?
Look at the basics. Patch your software to get the latest security updates. Insist your team use multi-factor authentication (MFA) for every platform that supports it.
Then, focus on ransomware-specific protections. For example, use a cloud platform with native ransomware protections such as Microsoft Azure.
Review the latest ransomware news and ICO guidance
Ransomware attackers change tactics as the cybersecurity industry creates countermeasures. They look for new routes of attack and use ransomware families with different encryption protocols.
Keep up to date with current ransomware news from publications such as Wired, CIO and BizTech. These are a few of the industry sources we depend on at HTG. A news app like Feedly can help you keep track of these sites’ latest updates.
The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) also regularly updates its guidelines for protecting your organisation from ransomware attacks. If you report a ransomware attack to the ICO and don’t follow its guidance, your organisation could be liable for fines and other enforcement. So, pay attention to what they say!
Train remote staff
Coveware’s most recent quarterly ransomware report found that approximately 70 percent of attacks happened to remote systems. Remote assets become a ransomware risk when the people using them don’t protect their data.
As ever with cybersecurity, people can be your biggest liability or your biggest asset. Make sure they’re the latter. Add training on cybersecurity best practices to your remote work security plan.
This training could involve a virtual workshop, such as Microsoft Azure’s virtual desktop security guide. Or you could add compulsory reviews and tests of your organisation’s cybersecurity policies.
Create an insider risk mitigation framework
Insider threats can also expose your organisation to ransomware. These risks don’t just come from malicious or negligent employees. Attackers can steal employee credentials. This turns the IT profile of even the most loyal employee into a potential threat.
The Centre for the Protection of National Infrastructure (CPNI) provides an insider risk mitigation framework. This includes:
- establishing who will put in place the framework,
- identifying high-risk roles,
- developing mitigations,
- and integrating those mitigations into your organisation.
Deploy 802.1X authentication
802.1X authentication secures local area networks (LANs) through a single authentication server. It lets you restrict access to your organisation's devices through certificates. This prevents outside attackers from holding your data hostage.
Configuring your network to 802.1x limits attackers’ options. It also helps you better monitor the devices that access your network. 802.1X works with a wide range of authentication devices, so you won’t have to worry about buying advanced equipment to use it.
Stay proactive
Ransomware attacks are on the rise in the UK, but that doesn’t mean an attack on your business is inevitable. Follow the steps above and you can minimise your risk of becoming another ICO statistic.
HTG can help with the process. Ask us for a 40-page cybersecurity report to learn where your organisation stands.
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