Hartford Business Journal

14 Hartford Business Journal • November 11, 2019 • www.HartfordBusiness.com FOCUS: CYBERSECURITY EXPERTS CORNER The infallible way to beat ransomware By Jim Parise R ansomware has ramped up significantly in 2019, with many high-profile victims, including several Connecticut municipalities. While the cyberse- curity landscape can feel daunt- ing, ransom- ware is a unique kind of cyber- attack in that there are steps to sidestep it. In a ransom- ware attack, hackers lock your data until you pay them. A ransomware attack isn't a data breach per se because the hackers don't steal anything — they just use malware that en- crypts the data on your systems so you no longer have access to it. If you have a copy of your data and you can restore it quickly, the ransomware attack is completely ineffective. Here are key compo- nents of a disaster-recovery strat- egy that will render ransomware a non-threat. Multiple, automatic backups Once it gets into your network, ransomware spreads automati- cally, locking as much data on as many computer systems as it can. In order for your backup data to be left untouched, it needs to be stored somewhere separate from the original, such as the cloud or an off-site server. The backup also needs to be regularly updated automatically (hourly or more often is ideal). When backups have to be made manually, they inevitably become out of date. In addition, it's important to make sure that all data is being backed up. Wolcott Public Schools experienced a ransomware at- tack earlier this year and found that while much of their data was backed up, critical portions of it were not, such as lesson plans and materials for teachers. A plan to restore quickly When Texas-based Heritage Auctions, the third-largest auction house in the world, was hit with ransomware this fall, it apparently had backups in place. However, it took the company five days to get their website fully back up and running. With an average of over $2 million in sales per day in 2018, it was an expensive outage. Creating a backup is actually the easy part. Using your backup to get back to business quickly requires careful planning. A good first step is to identify the data that is criti- cal to business function so that it can be restored first. Next, consider how your data will be restored and how long that will take. Depending on the cloud provider you're using, your network speed, and the amount of data you need to restore immedi- ately, getting your system up and running from a cloud backup can take anywhere from minutes to days. Having both an on-premises backup server and a cloud backup can help you restore quicker. Finally, there needs to be some- where to restore the data to. After a ransomware attack, computers and servers may need to be scrubbed and rebuilt. A backup system that Jim Parise Continued on page 16 >> HOSTED BY Ayana Elizabeth Johnson Marine biologist and conservation strategist Gina McCarthy Former head of the EPA David Wallace-Wells Journalist and bestselling author of The Uninhabitable Earth Urgent homeowners meeting. Friday, Nov. 22, 2019 7:30pm 860.509.0909 | ctforum.org LIFETIME PATRONS: Aetna | Connecticut Public The Hartford Financial Services Group | Lincoln Financial Foundation The Rosalyn Group | Stanley Black & Decker | Travelers United Technologies Corporation Moderated by John Dankosky Live at The Bushnell Climate Crisis

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