Ransomware is a specific type of malware designed to encrypt a computer’s content until the user pays to get the encryption or recovery key. This effectively halts productivity, impacting business revenue. However, IT professionals can take decisive action to minimize both the threat and the impact of ransomware. To protect your enterprise against ransomware, you need to examine how to limit the impact of a breach, explore where an in-process attack can be stopped, and discuss what to do if a hacker succeeds in gaining access.
There are 4 key preventative steps to follow that are identified below. Micro-segmentation plays a key role in these steps by partitioning the networks to prevent attacks from spreading via east-west proliferation and by segmenting the network into much smaller groups of workloads, managed with identity-driven security policies, to prevent spreading and to respond rapidly.
Protect the Enterprise
Minimize the Impact
Break the Cyber Kill Chain
Respond to an attack
By putting in place sound preventative measures, understanding the Cyber Kill Chain, and knowing how to respond to a breach, you can lower your risk of infection and reduce the impact of a breach. Your goal is not to guarantee that a ransomware attack will never be successful, as that is an impossibility. Rather, your goal is to ensure that if a breach occurs, it does not become a newsworthy event. By fending off the majority of attacks and dealing swiftly and smoothly with the few hackers who get in the door, you will help keep your business on track and on target.