Ransomware, How Hackers Hold Your Files Against You.

What is Ransomware? 

Ransomware is a type of malware that encrypts data on a computer or network into an unreadable format until a sum of money, or ransom, is paid.

How Does Ransomware work?

When run, ransomware will scan the file storage disk for files to encrypt—typically
documents, spreadsheets, etc. The files are encrypted with a key that only the attackers
know, thus preventing your access to the files. Then, threat actors hold your files hostage,
demanding a ransom to be paid for you to get your access back.

Ransomware Prevention

• Keep your computer updated and patched.
•  Verify, then trust.
•  Make sure your connection to a site is secure before submitting any personal information.
•  Stay up-to-date on the latest cybersecurity education.

"The longer an attacker persists on a device, the more intel they’re able to gather and the more damage they can ultimately do when deploying ransomware, stealing passwords or executing other malicious activity."

How Hackers Hold Your Files Against You

• Phishing: This is when a threat actor tricks someone into handing over their sensitive, personal information—such as a credit card or Social Security number. The victim believes they’re handing over their information to a trustworthy resource when in reality, they’re giving their information to threat actors.

•  Public-Facing Vulnerabilities: Threat actors scour the internet looking for systems with known vulnerabilities. Then, they exploit them to gain access to the environment.

•  Drive-by downloads: This is when someone navigates to a malicious webpage and unknowingly downloads malicious code to their computer—all just by visiting the webpage.

• Purchased access: There’s a marketplace for everything these days and cyberattacks are no exception. The dark web is a treasure trove of hackers for hire and deployable ransomware for download.

Ransomware Detection

Prevention is only part of the puzzle. Some attacks are virtually impossible to prevent. It all comes down to fast detection and response times, which will help you combat tomorrow’s threats that may not be detectable today.

Secure your business with a cybersecurity platform that secures your business and evicts hackers.

To protect our clients from ransomware, we deploy a suite of cybersecurity tools that are backed by a 24/7 Threat Operations Center that works to protect your assets and evict malicious actors.

The most efficient way to detect ransomware is to leverage the tools in your security stack. Find a vendor who has developed a security stack to detect and respond to ransomware.

"During a ransomware attack, threat actors hold the readable data hostage until the ransom is paid. We deploy a suite of cybersecurity tools, backed by a 24/7 Threat Operations Center that works to protect your assets.”

If you are interested in adding Huntress EDR or MDR services to your security stack, please contact us at cyber@veroot.com.