There has been a massive increase in the use of ransomware by cybercriminal gangs over the past two years. The ease of conducting campaigns and the high percentage of businesses that pay the ransom demands to regain access to their data has made attacks highly profitable. Further, ransomware-as-a-service has allowed campaigns to be conducted quickly and cheaply by would-be cybercriminals with little to no programming skills.
The number of individuals conducting campaigns has increased significantly, as has the volume of new ransomware variants now being used. In the first half of last year alone more than 1.9 billion data records were lost or stolen as a result of cyberattacks, and last year’s estimated total of more than $1 billion in ransom payments has been exceeded in 2017.
Large businesses may be targeted by organized criminal gangs, but small to medium sized businesses are also suffering attacks. The spray and pray tactics of cybercriminals claim many SMB victims. Even though barely a day goes by without news of a SMB ransomware attack occurring, many business owners think they are too small to be targeted by cybercriminals and as a result, fail to implement appropriate defenses to block attacks.
To help managed service providers (MSPs) communicate the importance of improving their clients’ defenses against ransomware, AppRiver and Datto have joined forces to produce “The MSP’s Guide to Protecting Clients from Ransomware.”
The white paper explains the seriousness of the threat of ransomware attacks and the financial consequences of suffering an attack. By explaining the risk, and the likely financial consequences, MSPs will find it easier to convince SMBs to implement security solutions to block attacks and ensure a quick recovery if disaster strikes.
In the white paper, AppRiver/Datto explain the need for implementing layered defenses, including security solutions to prevent malicious messages from reaching inboxes, enhanced employee training to eradicate risky behaviors, and implementing recovery and backup solutions to ensure data is not permanently lost.
“With our partner Datto, we’ve assembled recommendations on educating employees and building strategies around security software and data backup and recovery solutions. Through a layered approach encompassing training, a security software portfolio and recovery solutions, MSPs can help SMBs deploy an effective security solution to protect their business from today’s and future threats,” said AppRiver senior security analyst, Troy Gill.