How to prevent a ransomware attack

Updated at March 17, 2021
By Gatefy
Blog, Tips & Advices

Ransomwares will continue for a long time to be one of the biggest threats in the virtual world. The good news is that there are tips to prevent ransomware attacks, allowing you to focus on the core of your business and have your information and data secure.

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Prevention is the best defense

Allocate resources for your team’s training and awareness. It’s important to understand how a ransomware works and how it is delivered, such as via links and attachments. Your team should also have the habit of reporting suspicious emails to the IT staff.
Scan URLs and attached files that come in through your email. Sandbox and CDR (Content Disarm & Reconstruction) solutions can help you with that.
Keep your anti-virus and anti-malware solutions up to date and conduct regular scans.
Use strong spam filters and implement email authentication protocols, such as DMARC (Domain Message Authentication Reporting and Conformance), SPF (Sender Policy Framework), and DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail), to prevent email spoofing that may contain ransomware.
Block access to malicious IP addresses.
Implement Email Policies and Rules, and Software Restriction Policies to have control over your network, preventing various types of cyber attacks, including ransomwares.
Manage wisely the use of privileged accounts and access controls, defining well the types of access and permission, such as reading and execution, so that human failures are avoided. If you want to go beyond, use an application whitelisting.
If you utilize a remote desktop protocol, make sure the protocol is secure or think about deactivating it.
Conduct regular vulnerability assessment and penetration test.
Last but not least: back up data regularly and ensure your back up system is working and secure.

It's laborious, we know

Prevention is hard sometimes because it involves many people and requires investment. However, think that the vast majority of infections in the world caused by ransomwares and other threats could have been avoided if a well-done prevention work had been performed.

There are several products on the market that can help you with your ransomware protection list, such as a Secure Email Gateway (SEG) solution that has anti-virus, anti-spam, IP reputation, email policies, Sandbox, Content Disarm & Reconstruction (CDR), and other engines.