There have been many notable cyber-attacks over the past couple of years – with Colonial Pipeline making headlines recently. Colonial Pipeline’s outage had significant national effects, and is likely to have serious business impact to them as a company as well.
When the time comes to restore your business, will you be ready or will you have to pay the ransom? According to a recent report performed by Palo Alto’s threat intelligence team, the average ransom paid due to cyber-attacks in 2020 was $312,493–up from $115,123 in 2019. Cybercrimes are getting more sophisticated and cybercriminals are getting greedier. It’s not a matter of if you will be targeted anymore–it’s a matter of WHEN the cybercriminals will successfully infiltrate your system. Will you have the necessary policies and tools in place to recover in a timely manner?
Wynne takes your data and security very seriously. While we cannot guarantee we will never be a victim of a cyber-attack, we can say we will be ready when the time comes. There are a wide range of methodologies designed to prevent/minimize an attack–here at Wynne we focus on the following: backup, education, prevention, and proactive monitoring as well as the ability to restore data to an uncorrupted and un-ransomed state from before the attack occurs.
Your people: Educate to prevent cyber-attacks
People are the first and last line of defense in today’s world. Security awareness training is a key component in preventing ransomware from infiltrating your system. Unfortunately, your users are most likely the easiest entry point into your network. Users should be trained regularly and continuously tested so they are up to date with the latest threats.
Create defenses: Proactive monitoring
Perform regular scans of software for known vulnerabilities–both internally developed and third party. Examine the server, network and firewall logs, use tools to consolidate and monitor for exceptions.
Prevent future attacks
Implement system hardening principles:
- Stay up to date. Outdated software can also be an easy entry point for an attack.
- Take action. React immediately to any vulnerabilities detected as part of your proactive monitoring.
- Prevent. Install tools that provide endpoint protection, such as anti-malware, anti-virus, and threat intelligence.
If a cyber-attack should happen: Backup/restore
Although data loss may still occur, performing regular backups will drastically reduce the impact of an attack. Make sure your backup strategies take into account offsite storage and/or a segment of your network that cannot be compromised by a cyber-attack.
Is your organization ready to recover from ransomware, fend off the numerous phishing, DDOS, and other attacks? Wynne has been practicing enhanced security for many years, and has been adapting to new threats as they emerge for decades now. Our employees are required to take monthly security tests, and are very conscious of the dangers present in doing business In today’s world. Are yours?
