Ransomware is big threat to businesses

Categories: Security

Businesses across Sussex are being warned about ransomware which invades IT systems often via infected email attachments.

There are various forms of this malware, but, essentially, it encrypts files on your computer, rendering them inoperative, until you pay a ransom fee.

Several organisations have been attacked, including a police department in Massachusetts and medical centres in California. In the UK, various unwitting companies have also been hit.

Gary Jowett, from CNC in Brighton, says: “Rooting-out and cleansing infected files isn’t sufficient. There’s always a risk you’ll miss one hidden deep in your system. The only solution is to have a back-up of all your files which pre-dates the ransomware attack.

“But to avoid it happening, we recommend customers install cloud-based security and archiving services which will weed out nasty emails with suspicious attachments or embedded URLs before they arrive in your inbox.”

Multi-layered detection

One such solution is Mimecast – a suite of security and archiving services that help protect businesses against spam, viruses and many other threats. The Mimecast Secure Email-Gateway uses sophisticated, multi-layered detection engines and intelligence to protect you against a wide range of threats.

However, it’s still important to educate your employees because nothing is ever 100 per cent infallible due to constantly-changing threats from criminals.

Inevitably, some dangerous attachments will slip through. Some emails may, on the face of it, look quite harmless; appearing to relate to some genuine online activity. This is when your guard may be lowered and you’re tempted to click on a link or open an attachment.

Don’t wait until the nightmare happens

Unfortunately, a lot of companies in Brighton and Worthing do nothing until an attack happens. They believe their existing security measures are still water-tight.

It’s much better to get advice from an independent IT consultant who will be aware of all the latest threats and can help you to be better prepared before any attack disrupts your business and compromises vital sales and customer records.