Enterprise Survival Guide for Ransomware Attacks

Hardly a day passes by when we do not hear about a ransomware locking data and demanding the ransom. Ransomware is the most opportunistic type of malware, affecting from a single user to an entire organization. Internet Security Threat Report (2016) by Symantec indicates 35% growth in crypto-style ransomwares during the year 2015. Symantec has categorized ransomware as 'An extremely profitable type of attack' (Symantec, 2016). This profitability is attracting more hackers into the business and allowing attackers to bring more human resource in the attack mechanism. To launch a ransom attack, attackers are directly contacting their victims notably via technical support scams. Symantec first reported this type of scam in 2010 and blocked 100 Million TechSupport Scam in the year 2015 alone (Symantec, 2016). The scope and sophistication of ransomware is evolving at very high rate and there is a need to develop a cyber security model against ransomware attacks. This document goes into the details of multiple stages of a ransomware attack and describes a multilayer offensive security approach to protect an organization from ransomwareattacks.