Ransomware data recovery

Ransomware is a malware attack launched by malicious actors that covertly encrypts an organization’s data, then demands payment for that data to be unencrypted.

Ransomware recovery provides the restoration of data after an attack. When an organization refuses to pay the ransom for decryption keys, organizations can restore data that it protected to help restart business processes and services.

Even with anti-ransomware measures in place, ransomware can not be 100% prevented. Threat actors have a wide variety of exploits that can overcome or simply bypass the best security controls and ransomware scanners. Ransomware gangs are continually morphing their attack techniques to bypass defensive measures.

Key to protecting against ransomware is the ability to both withstand and recover from attacks. Traditional cybersecurity solutions provide the capabilities to help withstand ransomware attacks. These include detecting unusual activity, locking down access to servers and endpoints, and having effective malware detection. Working hand in hand with cybersecurity, data security, and management professionals gives organizations cyber recovery capabilities as well. The recovery process allows organizations to refuse ransom payments and to recover affected data. Cyber recovery and ransomware solutions also have a unique view of an organization's critical data. They can therefore help thwart ransomware attacks by detecting anomalies and threats in protected data—and integrating with existing security operations and incident response. 

To remove ransomware from systems and endpoints, organizations can surgically remove the malware and/or recover copies of data that are malware free. With proper data recovery ransomware’s impact can be minimized. Using decryption tools for recovering encrypted files helps prevent malicious software from causing more damage to infected devices within an organization’s computer systems.

When a ransomware attack happens, recovery using a ransomware backup must happen as rapidly and safely as possible. Organizations can’t withstand the outage of critical services for any duration without seriously impacting revenue and customer loyalty. Critical to rapid recovery is making sure trusted data is available—and able to be restored at scale using a reliable backup ransomware solution. Recovery should include all critical data (structured and unstructured), as well as virtualized systems. Plus recovering thousands of virtual machines and enterprise data should be measured in hours, not days. Such comprehensive recovery is critical to business continuity and cyber resilience.

Backups must maintain their integrity so they’re reliable sources for cyber recovery. Several factors are key to the integrity of ransomware backup protection: First, backup data must be immutable, so it can’t be modified or deleted. Second, the backup platform must be hardened so administrative settings, such as backup schedules, can’t be altered. Third, any changes to critical settings must require multi-person approval, or quorum, so no rogue insider can unilaterally change settings. Finally, the platform’s security posture should be continuously monitored to help ensure that security settings aren’t changed and don’t introduce risks. Here are some tips to protect your backups.

The challenge with ransomware is being prepared for an attack—not wondering if it will happen. (It’s a question of when, not if.) The best cybersecurity intentions can be undone via simple user error, such as clicking an attachment in an email. Given this reality, organizations must have reliable recovery capabilities if they want to avoid paying the ransom—and avoid a significant disruption of their business operations. Plus,many cyber insurance providers now require organizations to have robust recovery capabilities in place to qualify for coverage. It’s more important than ever that ransomware services and data recovery software be implemented as a comprehensive risk management strategy.