How should small businesses protect themselves against ransomware?
With recent stories from the States of small businesses being held up to ransom over their data files, some pay out nearly half a million dollars in Bitcoin. Take Texas, where 22 cities have been simultaneously held hostage for millions of dollars, and which prompted an emergency response from the National Guard and a widening F.B.I. enquiry.
So far unknown, ransomware, rather than destroying data, locks it up and prevents access to important data by injecting malicious code into networks, unless you pay the ransom demand.
Keeping data backed up on known sources will allow affected businesses to regain access to data held to ransom. and making sure sufficient, reputable antivirus software and a firewall are in place is all essential if fighting ransomware attacks.
Make sure patches are up to date on software to prevent infection from exploit kits and use content scanning and filtering system on mail servers to prevent block attachments that could be harmful.
