Ransomware & Phishing Security Knowledge Series Part 3

Protelligent®: How to protect yourself against ransomware
Fight back! It costs nearly $1 million to resolve an average cybersecurity attack such as ransomware, phishing or whaling. Protelligent shares some valuable prevention tips for safeguarding and securing your organization’s critical data against cybercriminals.

Allow more time to read and scrutinize email:

• Do not click on any link until you are absolutely sure it is reputable or legitimate.
• Do not open any attachments unless you are absolutely certain they are from a reputable sender
• Pay attention to grammar, punctuation, etc.
• Verify and review sender domains.
• Hover over links and images before clicking on them to review the URL.
• If you receive a request from someone that seems unusual, pick up the phone, call the sender and confirm the request.
• Use public Wi-Fi sparingly. Don’t stay continuously connected.
• Have an offline backup for critical data. Ensure that a copy of your data is stored in another location that is not connected to your primary system or network to reduce the possibility of infection.
• Use a NextGen endpoint security system, such as Symantech or Trend Micro on all computers and schedule regular scans.
• Pay attention to URLs and remember that malicious websites can take the identity of reputable sites.

Steps to take if you think you may be infected

1. Isolate the infected computer.
2. Immediately secure backup systems or data by taking them offline.
3. Contact law enforcement and if possible, collect and secure partial portions of the ransom data that may exist.
4. If possible, change all online account passwords and network passwords after removing the system from the network.

In the event you become infected with ransomware and don’t have proper backup, paying the ransom does not guarantee you will regain access to your data. In some instances, ransomware victims were never provided decryption keys after paying the ransom, while other victims who paid the original ransom were targeted again by the same cybercriminals demanding more money to receive decryption keys. Paying a ransom encourages criminal behavior.
If you have any questions about anything mentioned throughout our ransomware video series, please call us at (855) PRO-TELL or email us today.