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FIVE RANSOMWARE PROTECTION STRATEGIES FOR 2023
Aamir Lakhani , Cybersecurity Researcher for Fortinet ’ s FortiGuard Labs , speaks to us about ransomware and what businesses can implement to fight against attacks .
If the growth of ransomware attacks in 2022 indicates what the future holds , security teams everywhere should expect to see this attack vector become even more popular in 2023 . In the first half of 2022 , the number of new ransomware variants we identified increased by nearly 100 %, compared to the previous six-month period , with our FortiGuard Labs team documenting 10,666 new ransomware variants in 1H 2022 compared to just 5,400 in 2H 2021 . This explosive growth in new ransomware variants is primarily thanks to more attackers taking advantage of Ransomware-as-a-Service ( RaaS ) subscriptions on the Dark Web .
However , even with the increase in ransomware variants , the techniques we see bad actors using to deliver ransomware remain largely the same . This predictability is good news because security teams have a reliable blueprint for protecting against these attacks . Here ’ s a closer look at ransomware mitigation strategies and how you can implement these in your organisation .
What is ransomware ?
Ransomware is malware that holds data hostage in exchange for a ransom . It threatens to publish , block or corrupt data – or prevent a user from working on or accessing their computer unless they meet the attacker ’ s demands . Today , ransomware is often sent through phishing emails . These malicious attachments infect a user ’ s computer once opened . Ransomware can also be spread through drive-by downloading , which happens when a user visits a website that happens to be infected . The malware on that site is downloaded and installed without the user realising it .
Social engineering often plays a role in a ransomware attack as well . This is when an attacker tries to
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