Anti-ransomware diagnostics, a must in 2022

Ransomware has become a scourge. According to an IBM study, they were the number one cyber risk in 2021 in North America. This is also what our company sees in the field. Ransomware will also be the number one source of cyber risk in 2022! No organization or industry will be spared.

Nowadays, it is very important that organizations take steps to minimize the likelihood of a ransomware attack on their network. Indeed, the impacts of such an incident can be major, including production line downtime, financial loss, ransomware payment and more. In addition, the negative impact that such a problem could have if publicized would be major.

The good news is that you can, in fact, assess your level of exposure to ransomware as well as take steps to improve your security and keep yourself safe from ransomware. This will save you from nightmares.

How much does a ransomware attack cost?

According to a 2021 study by EMSISOFT titled The cost of ransomware in 2021: A country-by-country analysis, the average cost of ransom demands following a ransomware infection ranged from $160,000 to $660,000 USD in Canada in 2021. According to the same report, ransomware costs plus downtime costs in Canada ranged from $1M to $4M USD.

These costs are significant and a huge amount of money could be avoided if organizations incorporate good cyber security hygiene.

Anti-fraud diagnostics are a must in 2022

In 2022, the most important thing in cybersecurity is the level of preparedness against ransomware. The sooner you know this, the better off you will be.

Anti-ransomware diagnostics provide you with that information.

How is the anti-ransomware diagnostic performed?

To check if you have the necessary measures in place to minimize the risk of ransomware, here is what you should do during your diagnosis:

1 - Check the effectiveness of your anti-ransomware operational cyber defense measures.

• What anti-ransomware tools are in place in your IT infrastructure?
• Do these tools have active response capabilities against ransomware?
• Are these tools capable of detecting unknown ransomware (zero-day)
• Are the doors used by ransomware to enter your networks securely closed?
• Are you able to detect the signs of data exfiltration tools in your IT environment?
• Can you detect the warning signs of ransomware?
• Are your personal and corporate remote access devices and terminals sufficiently protected?
• Is your email solution such as O365 secure enough to minimize the risk of introducing malicious tools?
• Are you able to detect malicious lateral movements in your network?
• Are there critical vulnerabilities in your network that are commonly exploited by ransomware?
• Does your email solution have capabilities to minimize the risk of ransomware entering your network?
• Are your backups done in accordance with anti-ransomware best practices? Are they tested regularly?
• Etc.

2 - Organizational and human diagnosis

• Do you have the necessary security processes in place to minimize the risk of ransomware?
• Is the level of awareness of your employees sufficient to minimize the risks of ransomware?
• Your ability to identify and address security vulnerabilities exploited by ransomware
• Do you have a cybersecurity incident response plan? Is this plan tested regularly?
• Do you have an operational procedure for responding to ransomware?
• Etc.

We strongly recommend that you make an anti-ransomware diagnostic report that you can share with your senior management. The diagnostic should result in a roadmap allowing you to take concrete actions to minimize the risk of ransomware in your organization. The diagnostic report should contain:

• Your current level of protection against ransomware attacks
• Your strengths in the fight against ransomware
• Weaknesses that could lead to the introduction of ransomware into your network
• Gaps that need to be addressed
• Planning of the corrections, classified by priority level (immediate, short or medium term)

How can StreamScan help you?

An anti-ransomware diagnostic is the best quick cybersecurity win you can achieve.

StreamScan is constantly in the field with the goal of helping ransomware victims get back into production as quickly and safely as possible. This long experience in the field has allowed us to understand the modus operandi of ransomware, the most common ways to introduce it into computer networks and the weaknesses that are exploited to propagate it in networks.

We can help you perform your anti-ransomware diagnostic and define your roadmap in order to minimize the risk of falling victim to such threats.

Are you ready to deal with ransomware? Talk to one of our experts or contact us at 1-877-208-9040.