Ransomware’s Shifting Tactics and How to Protect Your Organization

Ransomware is rapidly progressing.

Attackers aren’t just encrypting your data and requesting a ransom; they are stealing it before you even know they’re there.

Some even go a step further and threaten to release it to the public or perform attacks that flood your network or server with traffic until it stops working.

The goal: Higher payouts. The additional multilayered extortion scheme is called triple extortion ransomware, and it means that fast detection is critical to saving your business.

Let’s discuss what triple extortion looks like and how you can protect your organization from ransomware attacks.

How Does Triple Extortion Ransomware Work?

Triple extortion ransomware is similar to regular ransomware, but there are more ways to hurt you.

Once an attacker gains a foothold in your network or systems (usually through phishing emails or exploited vulnerabilities), they usually move laterally to look for sensitive data, such as credit card numbers or personally identifiable information.

When they’ve found what they’re looking for, they steal the data before they encrypt it, preventing you from accessing it.

With regular ransomware, the attacker uses the stolen and encrypted data as leverage to demand a ransom. But triple extortion ransomware escalates the situation with a third attempt.

Those possibilities include:

• DDoS attacks: These are attacks that overload your network or server with traffic, causing it to stop working.
• Third-party attacks: Attackers extort your clients, vendors or stakeholders, threatening to release their data they stole from you.

A successful triple extortion ransomware attack can result in financial losses, reputational damage, data loss, service outages, legal fees and regulatory penalties for your organization.

How Can You Protect Your Organization?

There are six actions you should take to mitigate ransomware threats:

1. Phishing training: Ensure your employees are properly trained in how to spot phishing scams that can lead to ransomware attacks. All it takes is one employee to click a bad link, allowing hackers to infiltrate your entire network.
2. Deploy anti-ransomware tools: Endpoint detection and response and identity detection and response are two must-have tools for combating ransomware attacks. They continuously watch your devices and business accounts in real time, looking for unusual behavior that could be a threat.
3. Patch known vulnerabilities: Not patching your hardware and software is essentially leaving the doors to your house unlocked. It gives the attacker easy access. It’s the same reason why you should always update your operating system, browser, phone and server.
4. Enable and enforce phishing-resistant MFA: Passkeys are phishing resistant because they can’t be guessed or stolen. If a passkey isn’t available, just having MFA is better than nothing.
5. Maintain regular backups of critical data: Ensure your backups are stored offline and regularly test the restoration process. A backup is no good if you can’t restore it properly.
6. Network segmentation: Ransomware attacks typically involve lateral movement through a network. Network segmentation divides a network into smaller, isolated subnetworks. This not only improves performance but also reduces the attack surface for a hacker.

Is Your Organization Prepared?

Ransomware can devastate your organization. Protect yourself against these attacks by taking a few key steps.

If you need help securing your IT environment, schedule a consultation. We’ve helped hundreds of clients improve their security posture, so they’re prepared the next time an attacker strikes.

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