Ransomware Containment: Effective Strategies to Protect Your Business

Are you ready to prevent your ransomware attack from ruining your business?

Over the past few years, ransomware has become more sophisticated and more frequent, and is now one of the most serious cybersecurity threats of our time. Ransomware protection is no longer enough, you need to be able to contain it to limit damage.

In this blog, we will first discuss the importance of ransomware containment, examine how ransomware attacks have become even more dangerous, and explain how containment fits into a larger cybersecurity

It’s vital that ransomware be contained so that it does not spread across an organization’s network. Once ransomware strikes a single system, it generally spreads quickly, encrypting data and causing a number of issues. Without containment, the consequences can be devastating:

1. Extended downtime: Loss of productivity results from the disruption of systems and operations.
2. Financial losses: Massive recovery costs and potential ransom payments are faced by businesses.
3. Reputational damage: Trust by customers and partners suffers, thus harming long-term business prospects.

For instance, the Colonial Pipeline attack in 2021 seen the company lose millions of dollars as their ransomware incident response plan didn’t contain the ransomware early enough. Thus, a well-prepared ransomware containment strategy becomes a necessary part of a ransomware recovery plan.

To effectively contain ransomware, organizations need to adopt the following widely used strategies:

1. Network Segmentation: Break apart your network into smaller and secure chunks separated by manageable security controls. This process makes it harder for ransomware to spread.
2. Limiting User Access: As long as user permissions are limited, ransomware has fewer chances to spread through accounts that have been compromised. The principle of least privilege can be successfully usable in limiting access to sensitive systems.
3. Incident Response Plans: The infected systems can be isolated quickly and recovery efforts started by a well-prepared response team. An early prompt response to the ransomware attack can considerably limit the effects.
4. Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) Tools: EDR screens endpoints for risky practices and prevents ransoming of compromised devices before ransomware can move on to other systems.

The foundation of a sound ransomware containment plan, and how organizations can reduce the spread of malware, is based on these strategies.

With more sophisticated ransomware attacks, organizations need advanced containment techniques like zero trust security and micro-segmentation.

1. Zero Trust Security: This architecture assumes by default that no one inside or outside the network is trusted. It constantly verifies access requests and enforces strong identity verification. This in turn prevents ransomware from moving laterally across the network.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) recommends that businesses with sensitive data use zero trust to lower the chances of ransomware using compromised accounts.

2. Micro-Segmentation: Micro-segmentation isolates individual workloads or applications keeping ransomware from spreading across systems even if they live on the same network segment. Organizations restrict ransomware’s spread by isolating these workloads.

When we combine micro segmentation with zero trust architecture, it stifles ransomware’s ability to spread across networks by limiting lateral movement. Micro-segmentation has been proven to dramatically reduce malware propagation and also means organizations can contain it much more effectively.

To ensure organizations are well-prepared to contain ransomware, consider these best practices:

1. Regular Backups and Restore Testing: Make sure you regularly backup critical data, and test restore processes to make sure it happens quickly.
2. System Updates and Patch Management: Regularly update systems and patch known vulnerabilities to close potential entry points for ransomware.
3. Employee Training: Teach employees about phishing, social engineering, and other ways ransomware can infiltrate your systems.
4. AI and Machine Learning Tools: Take advantage of AI backed security tools to detect ransomware behavior in real time and have a quicker detection and response.

These are practices necessary to build a resilient defense from ransomware attacks.

Every organization needs a ransomware containment plan. Here are the steps to create one:

1. Assign Roles and Responsibilities: Make a ransomware response team. When isolating infected systems and starting recovery, make sure everyone knows what his or her role is.
2. Identify Key Assets: You should identify some of the systems and data you are most protective about. Know which assets are most important to your business and be sure to ensure those assets are at the top of your containment efforts list.
3. Implement Containment Measures: Containment strategies should be in place, such as network segmentation, zero trust, and micro-segmentation, to help isolate infected systems quickly.
4. Regular Reviews and Updates: Tactics change with ransomware, so should your containment plan. New threats will continually need revisiting and updating of your containment strategy.

The 2021 Kaseya ransomware attack was an attack on outdated systems. Companies that don’t revise their containment plans are susceptible to new ransomware attack vectors.

Those who invest in and create a solid ransomware containment plan can mitigate attacks and do damage control even better. Be proactive in your preparation of your business for potential threats.

BlackFog’s anti data exfiltration (ADX) technology is key to ransomware containment by preventing one of the most critical attack steps: data exfiltration. Most importantly, ADX works directly on endpoints and actually monitors and prevents data transfers in real time.

This means ransomware can no longer steal sensitive data from a device once it manages to break in, ensuring it can’t finish its extortion goals. ADX neutralizes ransomware because it prevents data exfiltration and thus prevents the ransomware from doing more damage.

Plus, ADX prevents ransomware communicating with command-and-control servers, preventing the malware from spreading from one part of a network to another.

Don’t wait for a ransomware attack – act now – protect your important assets.