Abstract

At some point in 2015, cybercriminals had an aha moment. Instead of going through all of the trouble of breaking into a network, stealing data and then executing a complicated scheme to monetize that data, they found a shortcut — and it was already paved.

Data encryption was touted as a defense against attempts to steal data, and companies implemented encryption to keep their data safe. It did not take long for the bad guys to figure out a way to turn those defenses around: Encrypt the data and hold the key for ransom. Already armed with methods to trick users into running things they should not, attack methods were created that locked companies out of their own computers, data stores and applications.

Preparing for these attacks relies on basic cybersecurity hygiene. At its core, a ransomware attack is just a variant of a malware attack, relying on the same weaknesses that malware attacks have needed for many years. The results of the attack, however, require new considerations.

Can your company survive a ransomware attack? In this session, we will help you answer that question by probing the answers to these four questions:

1. Can we protect against the attack?
2. Can we detect the attack?
3. How do we respond to the attack?
4. If the attack is successful, how will we recover?

Resources:

• www.nomoreransom.org
• NIST pdf

Presented by