Intelligent CISO Issue 40 | Page 74

FIVE KEYS TO MITIGATING TODAY ’ S RANSOMWARE RISKS

Dmitry Dontov , CEO and Chief Architect of Spin Technology , considers the best ways to approach modern ransomware prevention in the modern workplace .
ansomware attacks

R grew by 435 % in 2020 compared to 2019 and this increase is not expected to slow down anytime soon .

To put that into perspective , ransomware attacks have outpaced the already massive growth rate for overall malware prevalence during that same period ( 358 %). And according to Cybersecurity Ventures , ransomware damages will cost the world US $ 20 billion in 2021 ( nearly 60 times the level of financial repercussions seen in 2015 ).
Over the last 12 months , the threat landscape has changed dramatically with the rise of remote workforces and the explosion of cloud services . So how can your security strategy evolve as well ? When it comes to ransomware , here are five areas to think about .
It ’ s no secret that remote work has changed the ransomware attack landscape . Now more than ever , employees are operating outside of the traditional corporate perimeter , beyond where the bulk of your security controls are most effective and concentrated .
As a result , there are new attack vectors to address , such as vulnerable VPNs and Virtual Desktop workspaces , which means attackers are more likely to target individual users than corporate networks .
They ’ re using social engineering methods to make attacks more personalised and sophisticated . This is one of the reasons why 73 % of ransomware attacks succeeded in 2020 .
Dmitry Dontov , CEO and Chief Architect of Spin Technology
Remote work has also forced organisations to invest more heavily in cloud services to ensure employees can access corporate data and resources regardless of their location , making SaaS apps and cloud
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