How London’s IT leaders can prevent a ransomware attack

Ransomware is on the rise. How can IT support departments and business owners prevent a ransomware attack and potentially save the business?

Did you know?

• 54% of organisations in the UK have been targeted by ransomware attacks (Osterman Research, June 2016).
• 20% of these cases were so violent that business stopped immediately.
• The most targeted industries were the healthcare and finance sectors.
• 39% of organisations hit by ransomware said it came through an email.
• Cyber criminals target employees because they are considered the weakest link.

What you can do to prevent an attack

• DO NOT OPEN unsolicited email attachments or links. Ransomware is often embedded in documents.
• Educate your employees –  provide them with clear instructions (see our checklist here) on what to do if they encounter a potential ransomware lure
• Maintain clear inventories of your company’s digital assets and their locations, so cyber criminals do not attack a system you are unaware of.

What Conosco can do

• We recommend the use of an email gateway such as Mimecast to filter out potential threats before they even get to your mail system.
• We implement web-filtering to control the sites users can access and block connections to malicious hosts.
• We keep all your software up to date, including operating systems and applications.
• We run secure, frequent backups of your information so that it can be restored if encrypted.
• We monitor the antivirus solution on your machine daily, ensuring:

• • it is installed and active
  • virus definitions are up to date 

If you need help to prevent a ransomware attack, or with any other aspects of your IT security, the experts at Conosco are on hand to help. Book a free consultation here.