As organizations are becoming more aware of Cyber-attacks and Ransomware and are improving IT security tools they use; Ransomware and Cyber criminals are also evolving and are devising new ways to breach a company's systems.  In addition, expenses related to Cyber breaches/attacks are steadily increasing.  Ponemon's 2019 Cost of a Data Breach study noted that "breaches originating from a malicious Cyber-attack were not only the most common, but also the most expensive."

Below are several tips to help combat Ransomware and other Cyber threats:

1. Strong passwords aren't enough - companies should be implementing and enforcing two factor authentication to prevent unauthorized access using a company account, especially for users with elevated access rights. 
2. "Over the counter" anti-virus is a bit outdated - look into rolling out Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) software.  It's smarter and responds fast to threats than your average anti-virus software. 
3. Implement Email Spam Filtering - a quality spam Filtering service will not catch all spam and phishing attempts but it will prevent most of them from reaching a user's inbox; therefore reducing the threat that a user errantly clicks on a malicious link For the ones that do get through, educate your staff on how to identify and deal with phishing attempts. 
4. Introduce multiple point of redundancy - in some cases your backup system may be compromised or unavailable.  Remember, cloud servers and backup systems can get hit with ransomware too. It's best to have a backup to your backup.
5. Patch servers and computers regularly and update firmware on hardware devices. 

Last but not least, make sure you have adequate Cyber insurance that covers ransomware events, extortion payments, legal and forensic fees and data recovery in additioon all of the other beneficial coverages that are provided by a Cyber Liability policy.  

Cyber risk and, particularly, the risk from ransomware appears on everyone’s top risks list these days, including ours. The threat from a ransomware attack has rapidly increased over the past nine months, as many organizations continue to “work from home” which can come with more relaxed cybersecurity practices. As we go further into 2021, cybercriminals will continue to become more sophisticated, forcing these organizations to waste resources reacting to a ransomware attack.

In the last 10 months so many employers have adapted to a remote workforce. Here at The ALS Group we are no different. We have highlighted a few ways we have remained connected as a team through this pandemic, and how we have driven productivity with the help of our employees!

As most of the workforce continues to work remotely, the “data breach” exposures of yesteryear are still around. I doubt that any of your employees have been issued one of these as part of their “remote work setup”, but as people are settling in to a “new normal” in working from home, printing and reading documents is still prevalent. Only now, the security of that “paper” is often overlooked and can be simply discarded into the kitchen trash which is moved to the curb on garbage pickup days.

Most companies have been forced to quickly implement a remote work solution that suited essential employees or even the entire firm’s staff. This has exposed many companies network to new risks as everyone has a different set up at home. Some are using MACs, some using PCs, some have outdated operating systems and software while others are already infected with viruses or malware. 

During every national emergency situation, there are always scammers who look to capitalize on people during times of distress. Scammers have already begun to take advantage of the current state of emergency due to the Coronavirus pandemic. Similar to Hurricane Sandy in 2012, phishing scams have begun to plague our inboxes. Coronavirus phishing scams may come in the form of a statement or request from someone impersonating a Centers for Disease Control (CDC), World Health Organization (WHO), or similar agency official. They may even use domain names similar to those of the CDC and WHO.

This pandemic has impacted all of us. Many companies, including ours, implemented a “work from home” policy to ensure the health and safety of, both, their employees and their business. For us, since we always had an open floor environment and advocate a collegial collaborative work place being able to easily collaborate on projects and ask each other questions directly was particularly important.