Protecting Your Business and Yourself from Ransomware

Crimeware is coming at us from all angles, with most of us spending the majority of our day online—at work, at home, or on our personal devices. Crimeware is a type of malware used to carry out cybercrime. It is also known as a computer virus, spyware, malware, or ransomware. Ransomware or malware is a deceptive piece of software that tricks you into granting access to confidential information, ultimately committing identity theft and requesting a ransom, usually in the form of bitcoins.

What Is The Difference Between Malware and A Virus?

Malware is a general term for any software designed to infect a computer, server, client, or computer network with malicious intent. A virus is a type of malware that attaches itself to a legitimate program or file and spreads by infecting other programs or files.

If you are a victim of a malware attack, it's illegal and considered a crime scene,  and you should report it to your cyber insurance carrier.

How Do You Protect Your Company and Yourself?

• Make sure you have current and regular backups.
• Make sure the backup can be recovered – outline it and, more importantly, test it!
• Don’t open documents and emails from people whose identities you do not know.
• If the email appears to be from someone you know but looks strange:
  • Check with the person to see if it is legitimate.
  • Hover your mouse over the person’s name or email in the email header to see if it is really that address; it might show a different email address. This would be spoofed.
• Keep your patches and updates current, this includes anti-virus, malware, operating system and applications.
  
  

How Do I Test My Backup?

That would depend on your backup software/methodology. Make sure your backup is to a destination that you will be able to gain access to, taking into consideration software, hardware, technology, connectivity, etc. Make sure you have properly configured and selected all of your systems and files needed to restore. I would recommend not deleting before a restore.

What Antivirus Software Does RKL Recommend?

At RKL, we use SentinelOne for endpoint protection (EPP) and endpoint detection and response (EDR). However, many good options exist. They all have pros and cons. You should review each of the options to select what meets your unique needs of functionality and price point. Contact us if you are concerned about protecting your company from Ransomware.