How to Prevent Ransomware with DRaaS | OVHcloud
Ransomware: Should We Accept it as "The New Normal?"
What is Ransomware?
Ransomware is a type of malicious software designed to block access to a computer system until a sum of money is paid.
A huge amount of data is regularly stored on computers, as people are connected to the internet via an array of devices. Extorted companies risk losing productivity, key data, public-facing reputation, and much more. In the case of hospitals locked out of patient files, for instance, lives are potentially on the line. Can you imagine the panic your organization and IT department would feel if it came under attack?
Ransomware Stats Can’t be Ignored
Attacks are actively bypassing security, and unfortunately, the consequences are detrimental.
- The average ransom amount is $1,077 per computer; however, one-fifth of small and medium-sized businesses who pay the ransom never receive their data back
- Ransomware attacks are an epidemic: Of the companies that have experienced attacks, 70 percent have fallen victim to at least one that got past their security and successfully encrypted their files
- Traditional security solutions can’t keep pace with the speed new ransomware variants are being produced: Seventy-two percent of infected businesses lose access to data for two days or more
The costs of a ransomware attack can include:
- Damage and destruction (or loss) of data
- Downtime
- Lost productivity
- Post-attack disruption to the normal course of business
- Forensic investigation
- Restoration and deletion of hostage data and systems
- Reputational harm
- Employee training in direct response to the ransomware attacks
How to Mitigate Ransomware With DRaaS
The truth is that ransomware is not going away. Criminals will continue launching successful widespread attacks on organizations. But the good news is that your institution isn’t helpless against ransomware. The best thing to do is to back up data frequently, on a cloud storage platform, with cold storage, or on an external hard drive.
A comprehensive Disaster Recovery as a Service (DRaaS) solution will keep your organization safe so you do not fall victim to ransomware attacks. DRaaS offers a fast recovery time with recovery points of seconds to minutes, pairing continuous data replication and backup-based replication together for a full mitigation strategy.
When a ransomware attack happens, you have more recovery options to locate the most recent clean copy of your data. Plus, depending on whether you have a fully managed or assisted model of DRaaS, you may have access to a team of experts who can help mitigate the situation after a breach—which is ideal for overburdened IT teams.
Moving backup/disaster recovery (DR) files to the cloud enables you to get your hands on a slightly older version of your files and sidestep the attack, as the virus will most likely not be able to infect files stored in the cloud. An enterprise-grade DRaaS solution is a solid way to keep hackers at bay. It will keep intruders out of the storage used for the backups and DR files stored on the network.
It’s important to have a strong backup strategy and a tried and ‘tested’ business continuity and disaster recovery strategy/solution in place. There’s no single solution to the ransomware problem, but training your staff and managing the associated risks of ransomware by taking advantage of Cloud-based DRaaS to back up and recover your data is one of the best options to protect your organization.
Don’t let ransomware become ‘The new normal’ in your organization. Learn more about DRaaS and how a backup solution could help keep your organization and its data safe or take a few minutes to see how The Hut Group, an e-Commerce organization that operates 100 websites, was able to save $950,000 in capital expenditures by implementing a DR solution.