Ransomware Redefined: Evolving Strategies and Growing Vulnerabilities

Over the past few years, the rapid advancement of technology has undoubtedly brought tremendous benefits across various sectors.

However, this progress has also given rise to a significant and concerning trend: the increasing prevalence of cyberattacks.

In 2022, 85% of companies fell victim to ransomware attacks at least once, according to the Veeam 2023 Data Protection Trends Report.

That’s a concerning number! And these attacks can have severe financial and reputational consequences for businesses of all sizes.

Ransomware is an appealing option for cybercriminals as it provides high potential return on investment while requiring minimal upfront expenses.

The Cybereason Team has conducted their second annual ransomware study, and the results are quite alarming.

In 2022, 73% of companies encountered ransomware attacks at least once, can you believe that? It’s a significant increase compared to the 55% reported in their previous study back in 2021.

However, paying the cyber attackers can also be a costly mistake: 90% of organizations that paid the ransom were hit by a second attack, with 35% paying a second time and 5% paying a third time.

Considering the significant disruption caused by ransomware, it’s crucial for us to delve deeper into its origins and uncover the story behind this alarming threat.

Evolution Of Ransomware: A Brief History‍

Guess what? The inception of ransomware can be traced back to 1989, when the first ransomware attack took place.

When the World Health Organization gave out floppy disks at the AIDS conference that had programs that could help people figure out their risk of getting AIDS. It also had harmful software that could lock up computer files, demanding a ransom to release them.

Over the years, ransomware attacks have significant evolution, due to the rising value of data and the growth of the internet.

In addition, the emergence of cryptocurrency has made it easier for hackers to demand and receive payment without any traces. This combination has made ransomware attacks a serious threat causing severe disruption.

Let’s decode the history of a ransomware attack and get an insight into its inner working of this digital nightmare.‍

Breaking Down of a Ransomware Attack: Understanding the Sequence Involved

If you witness a ransomware attack, it can lead to significant downtime, diminishing productivity, and even financial ruin.

To identify whether your business is under attack. Here are several symptoms that you should be mindful of,

• Freezing or unresponsive computers
• Inaccessible files and documents
• Blocked access to financial records
• Slow or Unavailable network connection

Take immediate action upon noticing these symptoms, as ransomware attacks can quickly spread and severely disrupt your business operations.

But are you curious about how technology shaped ransomware attacks?

‍Technology’s Impact on Ransomware Evolution

‍In the past, attackers must set up their own data centers, servers, and storage systems by spending a significant amount to perform the attack.

But now with the rise of cloud computing and cryptocurrency, they can host their malicious infrastructure in the cloud and sell their services as a subscription to anyone, anywhere.

They don’t even need to find a potential buyer now, because they can simply encrypt the victim’s data and demand a ransom.

Attackers have also developed a new tactic “double extortion ransomware” where they not only encrypt data but also make a copy in the storage controlled by them.

So, can your company withstand multiple ransomware attacks and maintain its operations?

If not, how to get prepared?

‍Ransomware Resilience: Essential Tips and Strategies to Survive Ransomware Attacks

‍We have put together some essential Steps that can help you mitigate harm during an attack.

•  Notify the incident response team to rapidly investigate and minimize the impact on business.
• Isolate affected systems to prevent damage from spreading to your network and data.
•  Assess backup systems for any potential damage to data integrity caused by malware.
• Alert your legal team promptly to ensure their support in case of any legal proceedings.
• Keep relevant stakeholders, including management, IT security, insurance, informed with ongoing updates.

It is crucial to take defensive measures against ransomware attacks to reduce damage and ensure a smoother recovery process.

Moreover, we can secure data from ransomware attacks effortlessly using the proven NIST Framework – a go-to defense strategy.

NIST Framework: Best Practices

‍The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) cybersecurity framework is a set of guidelines and standards that can help organizations manage and reduce their risks.

This framework is like a roadmap that helps customers navigate the complex landscape of cybersecurity with the following functions: Identify, Protect, Detect, Respond, and Recover.

‍It’s a voluntary guidance tool, which lets user customize the program to fit your organization’s needs, improving cybersecurity.

Phase 1: Identify‍

To protect your organization from cyber threats, it’s important to identify potential risks and vulnerabilities. This can be done by evaluating the environments and systems that need protection.

So, we’ll explore the importance and best practices of the NIST Identify function and how it can help.

Build a Strong Human Firewall

Just relying on technology does not strengthen your organization’s cybersecurity posture. So, to create a multi-layered defense, make sure the employees are aware of the potential security risks and report anything suspicious.

By educating your team, you can identify any gaps in their knowledge and make your cybersecurity stronger.

Stay prepared with an up-to-date Business Continuity Plan (BCP)

To ensure your organization can survive tough times, even in worst-case scenarios, you need a reliable business continuity plan.

So, a BCP outlines how a business will continue operating during an unplanned service disruption, and it’s essential to have a manual workaround in place so that operations can keep running until the service is restored.

Tagging your Digital Assets

By simply tagging your digital assets, you can make your BCP way more efficient! Why? Because with just a simple search, you can easily find the exact asset you need, improving overall efficiency.

Though being a simple step, it can make all the difference in ensuring the success of your cybersecurity response plan.

Phase 2: Protect

Securing the critical infrastructure services is a big deal? It’s all about being proactive to minimize the impact of potential cyber-attacks.

Hera are some best practices that can help you boost your defenses against ransomware attacks.

Employee Awareness

Effective cybersecurity training for your staff is essential to safeguard your organization from ransomware attacks. So, providing knowledge, regularly updating them on new threats, and testing their understanding can build a strong human firewall for defense.

3-2-1 Data Protection rule

If you want to keep your critical data consistently secure, the 3-2-1 data protection rule provides a proven solution.

Basically, you need to have at least three copies of every important data, stored on two different types of media (external hard drive and a cloud-based service), with one copy replicated off-site.

Designing Secure Systems for Safety

Building a secure infrastructure from the beginning is more convenient and economical rather than attempting to incorporate it later in the future. To make things simpler, create a master image that’s already secure by removingany potential vulnerabilities and opening access only when necessary.

Keeping your builds consistent and up to date is key to establishing a secure baseline for your infrastructure.

Complex IT to Simple IT

Having a complex design can make it harder for your team to manage and easier for attackers to exploit. That’s where our principle comes in –ComplexIT to Simple IT.

So, simplifying your infrastructure can make it easier to manage and more secure against potential attacks.

Securing Systems with Limited Access

Enhance your security with the Principle of Least Privilege. By implementing this concept, it gives a bare minimum of access to users, which enhances security by reducing risks and protecting sensitive data.

Moreover, for an enhanced business security, implementing segregation of duties and maintain a secondary offsite data backup managed by a different team for added protection in case of primary system failure.

Protecting your Assets with Segmentation

Dividing your infrastructure into different zones based on access level, restrictions, and connectivity. By doing this proactive defense strategy, you can reduce risks and lower security costs.

Stay Safe Online with Digital Hygiene

Maintaining good digital hygiene is crucial, just like taking care of personal hygiene. With an increase in digital threats, it’s important to take steps to protect yourself online.

So, to keep your online accounts secure,

• Use unique passwords and a password manager.
• Turn on multi-factor authentication.
• Remove unused devices and non-essential programs.
•  Keep all software upto date with the latest patches.
• By adopting these simple practices, you can safeguard your valuable data, and maintain your security.

Regular Data Backup & Verification

Do you want to make sure that your important information stays protected from online dangers? Regular backups are the key.

In that case, even if you fall victim to one, you may only lose a day’s work instead of everything. Moreover, regarding data backups, you will have the option to choose how often to back up and the medium to use, be it a cloud service or a physical device.

Securing Sensitive Data with Encryption

Encryption means turning your information into a secret code so that only authorized resources can access it. It’s like putting your data into a lockbox so that only the right people have the key to it.

This technique makes it extremely harder for attackers to read your files, and it ensures that your data remains safe and secure from any potential breach. So, in case any other security measures fail, encryption can help protect your sensitive data.

Regularly Update Software and Security Measures

Frequent patching is crucial to protect your backups from potential threats. Being aware of vulnerabilities and taking advanced measures such as regular updates can help protect your data. Staying up to date with patches is critical for maintaining backup security.

Phase 3: Detect‍

Having a strong cybersecurity program is crucial, and the detect function is a key part of it. Timely detection of cyber-attack enables faster action to be taken, thus minimizing any potential negative effects. This means less damage and a faster recovery time.

Cyber Threat Detection System

One of the proactive ways to protect your infrastructure is by receiving alerts about any suspicious activity. An efficient detection system in place can notify potential security threats letting you swiftly respond and safeguard against various types of attacks, such as malware, ransomware, and other malicious activities.

Virtual Tripwires

One simple and fast way is to add an extra layer of security to your systems by implementing virtual tripwires. To do so, simply create an unused admin account and set up alarms to trigger a red alert if there is any activity on that account. It helps you to quickly identify any suspicious activity and protect your system from potential threats.

Actively Inspecting Irregularities

Organizations rely on Indicators of compromise (IoCs) to go beyond detection technologies and help them identify potential security risks. Monitoring changes to a backup job outside of normal maintenance can help detect anomalies that could indicate an attack. Moreover, tracking changes and identifying who made them, along with the affected data, can assist security teams limit the damage of an attack.

Phase 4: Respond

Being prepared for cybersecurity incidents is essential. So, by detecting an incident early and implementing the appropriate actions, you can minimize the impact of threats and reduce the risk of data loss.

Build your Efficient Incident Response Strategy

Cybersecurity incidents can be unpredictable, but being prepared is always a smart move. One of the reliable ways to do this is by creating an incident response plan that outlines the necessary steps for detecting, communicating, controlling, and remediating security incidents.

By establishing a clear and comprehensive strategy, your employees can be better equipped to handle a security breach, as they will have a precise set of actions to follow and be better prepared to respond effectively.

Calmly Activate Response Plan

Can you imagine what could happen if your workplace was targeted by a ransomware attack?

It can happen to anyone. But, if it occurs, it’s important not to blame anyone on your team as fear and uncertainty can stress out and make employees worried about the system.

To tackle this situation, stay calm and work together in following your incident response plan to restore your organization as quickly as possible.

Phase 5: Recovery

The recovery function is designed to quickly restore normal capabilities or services and minimize disruption to your organization. To ensure an effective function, it’s crucial to have a plan in place for how you will respond to any undesirable event.

Effective Recovery Strategies

To keep your infrastructure safe, it’s essential to have a recovery strategy in place. Because you never know when your system might be compromised, preparation is important.

One of the most important steps in creating a recovery plan is defining a prioritized list of action points, and it should be updated and tested regularly. By doing so, you can quickly respond and effectively contain any damage caused by the attack.

Optimizing Backup Systems for Reliable Recovery

Backing up data is important because it lets you retrieve information whenever you require it. That’s why backup systems must prioritize recovery performance rather than just focusing on backup time. Moreover, knowing the right RPO and RTO values will help you design a backup system that meets the requirement.

Unfortunately, many organizations wrongly assume they are more recoverable than they are, leading to data loss. To avoid this, make sure to prioritize recovery performance when designing your backup system.

In case, if you encounter a ransomware attack, the sole resolution is to retrieve your data.

But to prevent future attacks, it’s essential to evaluate all the framework functions and align your IT best practices with the NIST frameworks to handle any unusual threats and keep your data safe and secure.

Let’s say your system falls victim to a ransomware attack, have you thought about what you would do next?

‍Ransomware Demands: To Pay or Resist?

Though it is not a pleasant prospect to contemplate, it is crucial to remember that paying the ransom should never be an option.

Unfortunately, there is no assurance paying the ransom will help you recover your data and encourage them to target more victims.

Moreover, this could also make you a more attractive target for future attacks, as they know you’re likely to pay again.

So, what should you do instead?

Protect your assets with strong cybersecurity measures, including anti-malware software, and backup your data regularly.

That way, you can avoid paying the ransom and recover your files with alternative solutions to prevent data loss and financial extortion.

Moreover, Double Extortion is a sneaky move.

So, paying up ransom may not help because those hackers have already snatched your data.  The only way out is having a solid backup and recovery system, which can be an effective technique to protect your valuable information.

Surviving Ransomware: Quick and Reliable Recovery Techniques‍

Defend your business from rising ransomware threats with powerful tools and advanced detection capabilities, going beyond outdated backup techniques for robust data protection.

Now, let’s deep dive into some recovery strategies that can provide fast RTOs to manage attacks that can lead to significant disruptions, resulting in lost productivity, revenue, and customer trust.

Backup Replication‍

This process involves creating and maintaining a duplicate copy of virtual machine (VM) data in the disaster recovery (DR) site, which enables a quick and seamless transaction to a backup VM in the event of a primary VM data failure. It serves as a reliable failsafe option ensuring business continuity and data protection in the event of a disaster.

When you need to recover lost data, it could take up to 24 hours to get it back from a backup source. However, if you have a replica already set up, you can reduce the time it takes to recover (RTOs) by turning it on. So, you don’t have to wait for the backup to finish and you can get your data back much faster.

Ransomware Recovery Made Easy with Storage Array Snapshots

It can be a real headache, especially if any lost data is not easily recoverable. But did you know that there is a solution to it? One of the most powerful and underappreciated features is the ability to recover data from storage array snapshots. Moreover, they act as a catalog for your data backups, making it easy to browse through and recover lost data.

Protect your Data with Fast Backup Repositories

Backing up your company’s data is essential, but it can be challenging to find a solution that doesn’t lock you to any specific hardware or vendor. By using this solution-only approach, you can back up a small portion of your data to a repository that delivers faster recovery time, within your budget. These solutions offer a wide range of benefits, including instant restoration of physical machines to virtual machines, which is an alternative to traditional bare metal recovery.

Snapshot-based Replication and CDP for Seamless Ransomware Failover/ Failback

When it comes to protecting important data, there are two main methods used: Continuous Data Protection (CDP) and snapshot-based replication. CDP works by backing up data continuously and ensuring only a few seconds of work is lost in the event of an issue. On the other hand, snapshot-based replication takes periodic snapshots of data and copies them over. But this approach is more efficient when your data doesn’t change very often. So, choosing the right approach depends on your specific data protection needs and the nature of the data you are trying to protect.

Ransomware Rebound: Speedy Recovery Tactics for Businesses

Ransomware can be a nightmare for companies, and the cost of recovery is an important factor to consider.

But there are ways to avoid paying the ransom and dealing with the negative consequences of a successful ransomware attack.

By taking proactive measures and investing in better recovery solutions, companies can secure themselves from the devastating impact of ransomware attacks while minimizing the impact on their budget.