The Year of Ransomware: What you need to know to protect your data.

Blaine Kahle : May 25, 2016 4:10:39 PM

1 min read

Cybersecurity Ransomware

The Year of Ransomware: What you need to know to protect your data.

TL;DR

Ransomware can lock up critical business data in seconds and bring operations to a halt.
Traditional antivirus often misses new, mutated threats because it relies on known signatures.
Next-generation protection uses machine learning to block malicious files before they run.

ransomware protect your data

"Help_Decrypt_Your_Files," the year of ransomware has officially arrived. These 4 words can turn a business upside down with one click of the mouse. Your calendar, your kid's baseball schedule, payroll information for hundreds of nurses - to nothing, everything is encrypted. The emotional moments following are filled with panic and distress; someone or something has locked all of your files. A popup will then notify you of a specific amount of time you have to pay via untraceable bitcoins in order to retrieve your files, or lose them forever.

This has become the reality for many businesses across the country. With 90,000 machines being infected on a daily basis, it’s a dire situation. For Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center in Los Angeles, it was more than a harsh reality. After being attacked with ransomware, the hospital was forced to shuffle its patients to nearby facilities for weeks as they paid their attackers to regain file control.

Traditional antivirus solutions require manual intervention by a human to review new potential virus or malware threats. Only after a threat has been captured and analyzed is it is added to the database of known threats. While this was a successful method for a long time, hackers have since found ways to disguise and mutate viruses to pass detection. So, while the traditional method of virus detection helps to contain known “old” viruses, it does very little in preventing new ones from invading.

What do you need to know to protect your data?

Enter Cylance, a next-generation antivirus software company who predicted the upswing in hacker potential and created a program that combats against today's attackers. Cylance uses a mathematical algorithm to evaluate hundreds of thousands of traits that allow it to accurately classify “bad” files from the “good” files. Thus, Cylance is blocking viruses and malware in real-time, regardless of how new or old the malware is, which is why Cylance has been found to be 100% effective at blocking all variants of Locky ransomware.

Thinking about taking your ninja-fighting antivirus software to the next level? Here are the top five things you need to know about Cylance:

Is smarter than any human; built by machine-learning.
Blocks malicious programs before they’re allowed to run, not afterwards.
Does not rely on signature updates that are always stale by definition.
Is stopping “ransomware” like CryptoLocker and Locky in their tracks.
Protects against “zero-day” malware, even when not connected to the Internet.

Education is key: download the infographic to learn more about the five stages of crypto-ransomware and ways you should already be protecting yourself.

Frequently asked questions

What is ransomware?

Ransomware is malicious software that encrypts files and demands payment to restore access. It can stop business operations by locking away essential data.

Why is traditional antivirus not enough?

Traditional antivirus usually depends on known virus signatures. That means it is less effective against new or changing malware that has not yet been cataloged.

How is next-generation antivirus different?

Next-generation antivirus uses machine learning and behavior-based analysis to identify suspicious files before they execute. That makes it better at stopping unknown threats and zero-day malware.

Why is ransomware so dangerous for businesses?

It can disrupt payroll, scheduling, patient care, customer service, and other critical operations. In some cases, businesses may be forced to shut down parts of their environment while they recover.

What should businesses focus on to reduce ransomware risk?

They should use modern endpoint protection, keep backups tested and isolated, train employees to spot threats, and maintain a layered security strategy instead of relying on antivirus alone.