The number of cyberattacks has drastically risen over the past decade, making it a top priority for businesses to protect themselves against these attacks. Since the lack of cybersecurity education is a leading cause how hackers gain access to a business data the what leads to these ransomware attacks. It’s imperative for businesses to learn the risks and understand how to protect themselves against cybercrime.
Here’s the Top 4 Ways to Protect your Business Against Ransomware:
1. File Backup & Sync
By copying data from one location to another, file backup is a reliable way for businesses to protect their data and ensure business continuity. Backups are occur automatically multiple times a day, providing your business with multiple snapshots of your data. Additionally, syncing services allow data to be accessed remotely from an approved data repository for users with permission. File Backup and Sync work together to quickly restore lost or corrupted data, meet industry security and compliance regulations, and enable collaboration while ensuring privacy.
2. Employee Cybersecurity Training
When it comes to ransomware attacks, end user error is one of the biggest risk factors. The number one way hackers gain access to a business’ network is through phishing emails with infected links. If anyone in your organization clicks on the link or an attachment, the hackers have the potential to steal or encrypt your data. Your employees are your first line of defense against these attacks. Therefore, proper training crucial in the fight against ransomware. Without proper training, employees could be exposing your company to cyberattacks without even knowing it. Education is the best way to defend your business and reduce the amount of risk you’re exposed to. And since cybersecurity threats are constantly evolving, it’s important to invest in ongoing training for your employees.
3. Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery (BCDR)
Ranked as the most cost effective way to protect your business against ransomware by MSPs, BCDR helps ensure that core business functions are always available and businesses have the ability to quickly restore the business infrastructure in case of an attack. If you have a disaster recovery plan, frequent testing will uncover any flaws and help reduce the risk of data loss and better prepare your organization in case of a real disaster. And if you don’t already have a disaster recovery plan, now is the time to create one. Being proactive in the fight against cybercrime is a crucial step in protecting your business.
Most times, a cybersecurity attack has the potential to put you out of business due to the cost of cleaning up after a breach. It’s not just the effects of a ransom payment. The cost of downtime is 10x higher than the average ransom requested. The lost revenue during a downtime, the cost of attempting to fix the breach, and the reputational damage to your business can quickly add up to produce a devastating combination.
4. Anti-Virus Software
Antivirus software is another tool organization’s leverage in order to help prevent cyberattacks. Although not every type of attack is preventable by using a software, it can be beneficial in the fight against cybercrime. Intrusions exploit vulnerabilities in the operating system and act as an access point for an attack. Antivirus software is expected to protect against computer viruses but furthermore, the software can also protect against rootkits, bots, worms, spyware, and much more. Many advanced Antivirus software leverages machine learning and artificial intelligence to detect anomalies that traditional Antivirus cannot detect.
Reduce Your Risk
No matter what industry you operate in, no one is immune to these sort of attacks. Small and medium-sized businesses are the top target, experiencing about 43% of all cyberattacks. Despite the statistics, many SMBs assume they won’t be targeted and therefore, don’t take precautionary measures to protect themselves against cybercrime.
Additionally, it’s estimated that less than 1 in 4 attacks are being reported to authorities, meaning the problem is likely much bigger than we know. By implementing each of the top ways to protect your business against ransomware, you can reduce your risk of becoming a victim of an attack.
