Ransomware has quickly emerged as one of the fastest-growing cyber threats to both businesses and government agencies alike.

By locking files and demanding payment for access to the data, hackers can ultimately grind business as usual to a standstill until the files are recovered.

For many businesses, the crippling effects of having their systems locked down scares them into paying the ransom to get the files back.

In order to help clients truly prepare, FIBERTOWN partner Horne Cyber has created a product called Threat Runner that simulates and tests against real ransomware and new variants.

Horne states, “Ransomware, especially in times of public concern, continues to play a detrimental role in the privacy, integrity, and availability of organizations’ data.”

FIBERTOWN’S 3-prong approach to ransomware

In order to keep your business up and running 100% of the time, we recommend a 3-prong approach to dealing with ransomware. It’s all about being prepared — then you don’t have to respond in the heat of the moment if your company is hacked.

Our 3 prongs include: insurance, cybersecurity and physical security.

Insurance
A cyber liability insurance policy can help you to cover the expenses associated with a cyber hack. Additionally, some commercial cyber liability policies cover loss of business while your systems are compromised or unavailable.

Contact Horne Cyber today to discuss their packages for insurance, including proactive resilience services and best practices with cyber insurance.

For an added perk, mention FIBERTOWN in Horne Cyber’s contact form and they will schedule a free advisory call for best practice cyber tips.

Cybersecurity
Most business owners understand that cybersecurity is vitally important to running a business. Along with the typical protocols for protecting online activity and data, you may want to consider hiring a cybersecurity firm for an added layer.

HORNE Cyber’s unique combination of audit and security expertise provides clients with unrivaled insights related to successful cybersecurity programs, processes, and practices.

Physical security
In order to keep your data safe, FIBERTOWN uses layers of security controls and system checks built into the structure of our data centers. From the building to the software systems and personnel, we use a multi-pronged approach to physical and digital security.

Important measures we take include: construction materials that ensure hurricane resistance, our 24/7 network operations staff and on-site security, and a 100% uptime service level agreement to provide redundant power and cooling.

Successfully implementing these tips is a good start to stacking layers of cyber resiliency. Finding a data center that offers critical physical security is paramount as well.

Audit for business security

One consideration your business might want to consider is performing a business security audit. How prepared are you for an attack?

In their CISA Insights – Ransomware Outbreak document, the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) recommends that you:

  1. Backup your data, system images, and configurations and keep the backups offline
  2. Update and patch systems
  3. Make sure your security solutions are up to date
  4. Review and exercise your incident response plan
  5. Pay attention to ransomware events and apply lessons learned

Here are 5 more of the CISA recommendations to help you avoid being an easy target for ransomware hackers:

  1. Practice good cyber hygiene; backup, update, whitelist apps, limit privilege, and use multifactor authentication
  2. Segment your networks; make it hard for the bad guy to move around and infect multiple systems
  3. Develop containment strategies; if bad guys get in, make it hard for them to get stuff out
  4. Know your system’s baseline for recovery
  5. Review disaster recovery procedures and validate goals with executives

If you’re ready to make sure your data is protected, contact FIBERTOWN today to discuss what our data centers can do for your business.