Let's take a look at what you should do to stay safe against ransomware. Here are six simple steps to protect your data from cyber attacks:
1. Educate users about phishing attacks.
Cybercriminals often send seemingly innocent emails to users, luring them to download attachments so hackers can infect their systems and infiltrate their network. Enterprises need to properly educate users and employees about phishing attacks, stressing that they should not download unwanted attachments from random email addresses.
2. Back up your files regularly.
The best way to keep your data safe is by backing up your systems regularly. With backups in place, ransomware attacks won't be able to interrupt the regular business flow. And make sure the backup is restricted to read/write permissions so no one gets an undue opportunity to modify or delete your data. Once you've backed up your files, make sure to check on the status of those backups periodically to detect any breaches immediately.
3. Architect your security.
Divide your network into macro zones and micro zones to prevent hackers from accessing confidential information. Separate your computers based on critical, moderate, and low priority, and provide security levels based on network importance. For example, protect your servers more securely than your least important user computers or devices.
4. Employ deception technology.
If the data in your organization has to be secured at all costs, then implement deception technology to stay safe against potential data breaches. Deception technology is the practice of deploying a decoy system outside of your firewall, confusing hackers with fake data. With deception technology like honeypots, your security
team can identify threats based on multiple breaches at one time, all without compromising your confidential data. Once you've identified the threat, your organization can defend itself against the attack accordingly.
5. Regularly patch your operating systems.
Even if you have all the above security measures in place, your network may still be susceptible to ransomware attacks if your operating systems are out-of-date. To evade ransomware completely, you need to keep your Windows, Mac, and Linux systems up-to-date at all times. Deploy missing patches immediately to stay secure.
6. Update your third-party applications.
On top of your operating systems, you need to make sure your third-party applications are updated as well. If, for example, a vulnerability exists in your design department through an application like Adobe Photoshop, hackers can use this vulnerability to breach your network and start infiltrating other systems. With that being said, leave no holes unpatched.