Have you heard of ransomware attacks? Chances are it is, after all, the term has become increasingly common in news reports.
The expression derived from the English
ransom
(ransom) with
ware
(software) is used to define when a system is contaminated by a malware.
malware
(malicious software) and an amount is demanded to release the machine and files.
Cybercriminals are on the move and several business models have become victims in recent years, from private companies and even public bodies.
Recently, according to a note released by the government,
the National Treasury suffered a ransomware attack
and “the effects of the criminal action are being evaluated by security experts from the National Treasury Secretariat and the Digital Government Secretariat.”
Another victim was Lojas Renner, which suffered the attack on Thursday (19/08) and had its website and application down for 2 days in a row.
For the organizations that fall victim, this can lead to major financial losses, both from the ransom charged and the loss of sales and credibility.
Why are ransomware attacks on the rise?
According to a
research by Statista
in 2020 alone, 304 million ransomware attacks were recorded worldwide, a 62% increase from the previous year.
So, with data like this in mind, and with so many reports of companies and governments that have become victims of cybercriminalsthe question arises: why is the number of attacks increasing?
This is because, with the advancement of technology, the way companies operate has changed. Consider 3 examples.
Increased virtualization
Virtualization refers to à adoption of a virtual environment for using different applications and operating systems on a single physical machine.
It is a technique used by IT (Information Technology) companies to better o utilization of existing infrastructure, facilitating business scalability.
However, when implementing this solution, it is important that startups stay vigilant and look for ways to ensure the security since virtualized environments can change quickly, requiring trained professionals to maintain proper management and thus ensure that the organization is free from ransomware attacks.
Exposure of sensitive cloud data
Another measure that many companies have implemented in recent years is cloud services.
cloud computing
(Cloud Computing).
According to
Gartner forecast
spending on public cloud services in the year 2021 is expected to reach $332.3 billion, which represents a 23.1% increase compared to the year 2020.
This demonstrates the growing increase in the use of cloud solutions. With this migration, a lot of sensitive data is now stored in cloud.
However, even though cloud information is more protected than local storage, this does not mean that you do not
need to develop security strategies.
Just to exemplify, it is essential to establish policies to control accessso that information is protected.
Still according to Statista, many companies do not feel fully prepared when adopting a cloud solution and among the main reasons are the
difficulties with security, governance and lack of staff experience.
.
As a result, many cybercriminals may take advantage of this to carry out ransomware attacks.
Lack of deployment of protection technologies against ransomware attacks
With the previous points in mind, it is important to highlight that even though many companies are embracing digital transformation, it is also
it is necessary to implement protection technologies
such as:
- Cryptography;
Machine Learning
(ML);- Backup
backup
e
disaster recovery
; - Among others.
How to protect yourself from ransomware attacks?
In order to ensure the safety and security of your companyit is essential to apply internal policies for all employees to follow and contribute to prevention, such assuch as:
- Access management;
- Check page URLs;
- Be careful when clicking on links in emails;
- Among others.
It is also extremely important to keep a good antivirus in place and to make regular backups.
Another key strategy is to implement an encryption solution, so if your company suffers ransomware attacks, with the use of encryption, your information is protected and will not be read by criminals.
Read more about protecting sensitive data with encryption.
How to choose the most suitable way to secure data against ransomware attacks?
The Thales CipherTrust Data Security platform guarantees the entire structure and integrity of your company’s data, and the format of the fields in the database, whatever it may be: Oracle, SQL, MySQL, DB2, PostGreand so on.
Simply, comprehensively and effectively, the solution CipherTrust offers capabilities to secure and control access to databases, files and containers – and can protect assets located in cloud, virtual, big data and physical environments.
With CipherTrust, you can protect your company’s data and anonymize your sensitive assets, ensuring security for your company and avoiding future problems with data leakage.
Get in touch with Eval. Our experts will be able to help you, contributing to the development of your data protection projects and the continuous improvement of your company.
About Eval
EVAL has been developing projects in the financial, health, education, and industry segments for over 18 years. Since 2004, we have offered solutions for Authentication, Electronic and Digital Signature, and Data Protection. Currently, we are present in the main Brazilian banks, health institutions, schools and universities, and different industries.
With value recognized by the market, EVAL’s solutions and services meet the highest regulatory standards of public and private organizations, such as SBIS, ITI, PCI DSS, and LGPD. In practice, we promote information security and compliance, increase companies’ operational efficiency, and reduce costs.
Innovate now, lead always: get to know Eval’s solutions and services and take your company to the next level.
Eval, safety is value.
