By now, I’m sure you know what Ransomware is all about.  $$ Money $$ It has become the costliest threat to organizations today. Global losses are estimated to exceed $11 billion by 2019

Every 40 seconds a business falls victim to a Ransomware attack, according to a 2016 Kaspersky Labs Report. Unfortunately, this attack window is expected to drop to every 14 seconds by 2019.

But all hope is not lost, there are some very simple things you can do to protect your business.

For one, Ransomware uses social engineering as its main infection vector. It exploits the vulnerabilities of your employees.  91% of cyberattacks begin with spear phishing emails, which are commonly used to infect organizations with Ransomware.

Below are 4 simple things you can do today to immediately bolster your company’s cyber defenses.

  1. Train your users and test their knowledge. Training employees how to recognize and defend against cyber attacks is the most under spent sector of the cybersecurity industry — and yet it holds out the greatest hope for combating ransomware attacks.
  2. Have commercial grade anti-virus protection on your network. Surprisingly, this is all too often taken for granted. You cannot get comprehensive network protection using a myriad of free products. So invest in an industry-leading antivirus/antispyware software solution, it will go a long way.
  3. Maintain an adequate Backup and Disaster Recovery Plan. The operative word here is adequate. There are many types of backup solutions out there, and none of them are created equal.  You must create a plan and a process that fits your business. Not having a backup plan at all will absolutely catch you with your guard down.
  4. Monitor your network and firewall.  It is now more affordable than ever before for you to have an enterprise level managed firewall with remote monitoring and management of your systems. For about the cost of a frilly cup of coffee per day you can have access to same types of products and services that were recently only available to larger enterprise organizations.

If you’ve made the move from calling your break-fix IT guy to a monthly managed IT service plan with a reputable IT service provider, congratulations! You have opened opportunities for your businesses to receive the same types of protection the big guys have.

If you haven’t made the switch, give us a call today at Computek and we’ll give you a free network security assessment. Then we’ll help you formulate a plan that works for you.

512-869-1155