The threat of ransomware for SMEs

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All businesses are susceptible to malware attacks, whether ransomware or any other software. Social engineering also allows criminals to obtain privileged access credentials or steal data without raising any suspicion.

These attacks do not depend on the size of the company, but on the performance that cybercriminals can obtain from it. For this reason, SMEs themselves often underestimate their potential as targets for attacks.

Cybercriminals have many different reasons for attacking SMEs. The main objective is clearly economic, but sometimes it is attractive for cybercriminals to attack small businesses because they have fewer defences than large corporations.

In this way, the investment required to "overcome" the defenses and penetrate the systems is much lower than in a large company and, therefore, although the final loot is smaller than what can be obtained from a large organization, the profit margin is higher.

In addition, these cyberattacks are often not detected in time and it is more how to get usa phone number difficult to follow the trail of the attackers, who can cover their tracks much better.

Ransomware is one of the most popular and profitable attacks today
Ransomware is malicious software used to extort money from companies. This malware is introduced into devices such as computers, laptops and mobile devices. The objective is to “hijack” the company’s private and sensitive information, preventing access to it. The most common method is to encrypt the data, and to “release” the information, a ransom is requested for the decryption key.

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The damage caused by this type of attack to companies is very significant, from temporary or permanent loss of information, to interruption of activity, to financial losses and damage to reputation. The popularity of these attacks is due to the profitability from the attacker's point of view, since technology plays in their favour. Why? Firstly, there are more and more devices available that can be hijacked.

The smartphones, laptops and tablets we all use for work are gateways for attackers. Although they are devices that are usually well protected, the users themselves are the weakest links in the chain. In addition, advances in cryptography make it much easier to “hijack” information.

The biggest challenge when pursuing cybercriminals who carry out malware attacks is tracing both the origin of the process and the destination of the ransom money, since international anonymous payment systems are used.

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What can we do to protect SMEs from these types of attacks?
Cybersecurity training and awareness are the best ways to protect our SMEs from new types of attacks. The pandemic and the emergence of teleworking as an increasingly common option contribute to multiplying the points susceptible to receiving malware. Let's see what we can do to better protect companies from within:

Teleworking must be protected against any type of cyberattack . This means that we must provide the appropriate tools so that workers can protect themselves in their remote workstations, but they must also be trained and alert to any attempted attack, so that vulnerabilities are reduced.
Internet browsing and suspicious emails are known attack vectors. Therefore, we should avoid visiting websites without security certificates, for example, or with suspicious content; in addition, email is one of the main entry routes for ransomware into SMEs. Using good tools and training employees to detect phishing messages is the best protection strategy.
A good backup policy is crucial to keeping data safe. In the event of a ransomware attack, backups will allow us to recover data without having to pay a ransom.
Data in the Cloud is one of the main targets for cybercriminals, so it is essential to ensure that access to these infrastructures is very secure, or to work with a partner capable of guaranteeing such security.
A continuous monitoring tool allows you to examine your entire infrastructure and systems for anomalies or vulnerabilities. This is the best way to detect any attempted cyberattack as quickly as possible.
For many SMEs, it is not feasible to have their own IT or cybersecurity department, so outsourcing these services is crucial to maintaining high levels of security.
As we mentioned above, training and raising awareness among employees on cybersecurity issues is essential. Knowing how to detect threats and act correctly is vital for the company, so it is important to consider specific training to prevent irreparable damage.