The holiday season is a favorite time of year for cyber criminals who take advantage of distracted, overworked organizations and employees to deploy cunning cyberattacks. Recent research shows that major ransomware attacks “tend to occur on weekends and holidays when fewer staff are around to detect and respond to them.”
Many organizations operate with a skeletal crew during the holiday season as employees take well-deserved time off. The study also showed a disconnect between the risk ransomware poses to organizations during these time periods and their level of preparedness to respond to these attacks.
The lack of preparedness for ransomware attacks on weekends and holidays seriously impacts companies who experienced a breach.
· 60 percent of respondents said the lack of preparedness resulted in longer periods to assess the scope of an attack.
· 50 percent said they required more time to mount an effective response.
· 33 percent indicated they required longer to fully recover from the attack.
Here is your three-step, pre-holiday checklist to ensure your clients’ environments are safeguarded against potential ransomware attacks.
Step 1 – Block Access to Malware
Distracted users can accidentally navigate to malicious websites, inadvertently download malware or share their login information. The FortiGate NGFW with FortiSandbox and FortiGuard Web Security scans all network traffic to identify and eliminate threats.
Step 2 – Prevent Phishing
Spear phishing is the easiest way for hackers to harvest credentials and access your network. Setting up an email security solution such as FortiMail can keep email threats from reaching unsuspecting users through a combination of anti-malware capabilities and sandbox analysis. Holding Security Awareness & Training can arm your clients and their employees with the knowledge they need to identify and report potential email fraud.
Step 3 – Detect and Respond to Threats Quickly
Ransomware is like a gift that keeps on giving. If it goes undetected, it can quickly spread throughout your clients’ networks. FortiEDR real-time endpoint security solutions proactively reduce the attack surface and protect endpoint devices using machine learning anti-malware and behavior-based detection technology. Customizable playbooks automate response processes to save you time.
Learn how the Fortinet Security Fabric brings end-to-end security to organizations of all sizes to prevent ransomware across all points of entry—even during weekends and holidays. Powered by intelligence from FortiGuard Labs, Fortinet combines market-leading prevention, detection and mitigation with top-rated threat intelligence to combat today’s most advanced threats.