Last updated on November 13th, 2023 at 02:07 am
How to Protect Your Company From a Ransomware Data Breach
Unfortunately, there’s no one-size-fits-all cost estimate for recovering from a ransomware attack. There are many variables involved, including the type of data, who has access to it, and how it was compromised.
According to Sophos’ State of Ransomware report, the average ransom payment for mid-sized organizations was $812,360, excluding outliers. The ransom payment itself is just the start. With downtime, lost opportunities, ransomware removal, and recovery expenses, the average total cost of a ransomware attack was $1.4 million. It took these companies an average of a month to recover from their most significant attack.
Larger organizations often get larger demands. Smaller organizations may get smaller demands, but take longer to recover from an attack.
According to Nationwide claims data, cyber claims for small businesses are typically $15,000 to $25,000, and the average recovery time after an attack is 279 days. Again, this cost does not include the extra costs associated with restoration, reputational damage, and the potential legal fallout.
What You Can Do to Protect Your Business From a Ransomware Attack
Your business will probably experience some form of data breach at some point. You need to do everything in your power to protect your company from attacks and be able to detect them when they happen.
There are no industry-wide standards, or “silver bullets”, for protecting against ransomware. That’s largely because it’s an incredibly complex threat that requires a series of different solutions to mitigate the risks. Here are a few basic cybersecurity measures you can take to avoid threats from ransomware:
- Know what data you have so you can secure it properly.
- Use multi-factor authentication for all accounts with access to sensitive data.
- Don’t ever reuse passwords across multiple systems or accounts.
- Implement encryption where appropriate. This won’t prevent breaches from happening, but it may make them less damaging if they do occur.
- Have an incident response plan ready in case a breach does happen. Plan how you would react in advance so you can get your systems back up and running as quickly as possible.
- Educate your employees about how they can prevent cyber attacks. A security awareness program can teach people how to avoid common security risks.
All companies are at risk of a ransomware attack, regardless of industry or size. Make sure you have an incident response plan in place. Your plan should include contacting law enforcement and starting an insurance claim with your company’s cyber liability policy, if you have one.
You can also do regular backups and update them frequently to avoid losing files. For example, you can backup every file on every device used by employees as well as servers owned by your company. This practice can help you avoid data loss even if an attack does occur.
Get More Help With Cybersecurity and IT Services
Need help with protecting yourself from ransomware? Simple Helix is a Managed IT Services Provider (MSP) that helps businesses keep their IT systems connected, supported, and secure. We provide a variety of security-related IT services, including data center services, private backup services, and CMMC compliance services. We also partner with Managed Security Services Providers (MSSPs) to help customers get more in-depth cybersecurity solutions.
We help customers in healthcare, manufacturing, R&D, and many other industries. Contact us today to learn more about our services.