Ransomware in the cloud is a real threat for organizations as the cloud hosts a goldmine of data. Read on to know how to mitigate ransomware attacks in the cloud…
A ransomware can attempt to gain access to systems, extending across a larger network to infect the whole environment. When ransomware infects cloud systems, which are typically designed for ease of access and usage, it can inflict significant damage across networks.
The cloud is a treasure-house of crucial data, and not just for enterprises looking to turn data into useful insights or sell data. The massive amounts of data flowing into the cloud have caught the attention of cyber criminals, who see it as a lucrative target.
Cloud computing vendors offer more than just simple Software as a Service (SaaS) to businesses and consumers all over the world. Several organizations are migrating their entire database infrastructure to the cloud, using DataBases as a Service (DBaaS). Some companies use Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) to move entire infrastructures to the cloud. Threat actors are drawn to these services because they host vital data necessary for business continuity.
Mitigating Cloud Ransomware Attacks
Some of the tips to help protect your data against ransomware synching is to use a next-generation antivirus to secure local files and to continuously update your operating systems. Use web filtering services to prevent infected websites from being accessed. Use either first-party or third-party solutions to implement backup and disaster recovery strategies.
To secure ransomware which targets cloud-based email services like Office 365, especially through phishing emails, it’s crucial that employees at all levels should be trained and updated with instructional resources that teach them how to identify, avoid, and report phishing schemes. It is also crucial to create email backup and disaster recovery strategies to ensure that critical data is available even after attacks.
Ransomware attacks on cloud service provider, can be mitigated by using an efficient Web Application Firewall (WAF) to continuously monitor cloud environment for threats. An intelligent and futuristic WAF should incorporate crucial components like behavioural DDOS protection backed by Machine Learning (ML) concepts that can identify traffic deviations tied to your application behaviour in real-time, as well as a managed services team to ensure continuous tuning to minimize zero false positives and provide instant notifications and remediation plans.
One of the most prevalent ways ransomware affects an organization’s infrastructure is through unpatched vulnerabilities in all the systems. Organizations can minimize their exposure to ransomware threats by restricting the ways it can get in by rapidly identifying and patching vulnerabilities.
Backups are essential for minimizing the impact that ransomware might have on your business. The most effective ransomware deterrent is to back up and validate your systems on a regular basis. By defining your data backup and recovery strategy, you can help guard against deletion or destruction of data during a ransomware attack by being ready to make backup data accessible in production environments. Regular testing of defined backup and recovery strategies in a game-day situation can result in improved response and reassurance that the strategy is working.
Conclusion
While cloud services help enterprises become more efficient, they also expose sensitive data to new types of cyberattacks. Ransomware attacks can devastate your cloud infrastructure and, as a result, bring bad reputation to the organization. Hence, cybersecurity should be a responsibility shared by all employees, not just IT departments. Securing your cloud assets with a dependable and experienced security partner minimizes the chances of ransomware attacks.
Despite the fact that the following security practices considerably lower the risk of ransomware attacks, your organization may still be a victim. Hence, the security team should have a disaster recovery strategy in place in the event that the organization are targeted by ransomwares. It is crucial to plan how you’ll keep your organization running if you lose access to critical data, as well as how you’ll keep things running smoothly following an attack.