FINAL WORD
take you down at the moment you need the operational and reputational damage least and will be most willing to payout to end the attack .
Enforce the law
Law enforcers are trying to bridge the imbalance between risk and reward for cybercriminals . Cybercriminals can make huge sums of money with little or no threat of prosecution . This will and has to change . However , given the borderless nature of cybercrime , governments must agree on an international legal framework for punishing cybercrime . Until then legal action will mainly be directed towards the victims rather than the criminals . Many governments are debating whether they should make ransomware payments illegal , so businesses resist the temptation to pay ransoms – cutting off cybercriminals ’ income supply . Moreover , cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin , commonly viewed as a hacker ’ s dream , actually have the potential to help law enforcers bring criminals to justice . Digital ledgers like Blockchain make it easier to ‘ follow the money ’ as records cannot be altered or deleted . Therefore , once criminals turn their cryptocurrency into ‘ real money ’, the digital ledger can theoretically unmask them .
Protect your data
Everything from the advancing threat landscape to changes in the way the legal and insurance sectors view ransomware pay-outs puts the onus on data protection and cybersecurity . Organisations must
As well as implementing modern data protection solutions , businesses must prioritise improving digital hygiene levels across their entire employee base . consult with their technology partners about deploying Modern Data Protection solutions that can detect , mitigate , and remediate ransomware attacks . Data must be backed up and recoverable across physical , virtual , cloud , SaaS and Kubernetes so that in the event of a ransomware attack , businesses can remediate and recover quickly rather than being forced into paying the ransom .
As well as implementing
modern data protection solutions , businesses must prioritise improving digital hygiene levels across their entire employee base . Employee education and awareness training can help to create a more digitally secure culture across the organisation . A ‘ human firewall ’ combined with the right technology can help organisations prepare themselves for the ransomware attacks that will inevitably come their way this year and beyond . •
68 www . intelligenttechchannels . com