If your organization uses the cloud to store data, access applications, or send and receive data, it is important to prioritize cloud security.
Poor cloud security will eventually lead to security vulnerabilities. This will result in data being compromised or corrupted by a malicious source.
No organization can afford to experience its data being stolen. This will cause negative ramifications if industry compliance is violated.
Understanding how to better protect your cloud environment to avoid and prevent ransomware from entering your systems will help you avoid these consequences.
Coeo understands how important reliable cloud security is and has delivered thousands of security solutions and services to help improve security and avoid ransomware and other types of cyberattacks.
By the end of this article, you will understand what ransomware is, how to prevent ransomware in your cloud environment, and which security solution is the best choice for your organization to avoid ransomware in the cloud.
What is ransomware?
Ransomware is a type of malware that attacks your computer and spreads to other computers connected to the same network.
The attack prevents users from accessing their computers and files until a ransom fee is paid for them to be unlocked.
Historically, most ransomware attacks targeted a single computer. Today, most human-driven ransomware attacks target multiple computers at one time to attempt to extort larger sums of money from organizations that are more capable of paying the ransom.
Some automated ransomware attacks are sophisticated enough to shuffle through a company’s documents and set a specific price based on the organization’s financial strength.
If you would like to speak with our team to learn more about ransomware and cloud security or ask any questions you may have you can schedule an appointment.
The best ways to prevent ransomware in a cloud environment
It is important to understand how to avoid ransomware in the cloud to prevent data from being corrupted and compromised.
Ransomware can cost your organization hundreds of thousands of dollars to regain access to your devices and files after an attack. Therefore, it is important to avoid ransomware and its consequences.
There are a few ways to prevent ransomware in the cloud including:
Take inventory of data in the cloud
It can be easy for an organization to simply send everything to the cloud and store it there for long periods of time. However, it can be easy to lose track of this older data, and eventually, this data may no longer be managed properly.
Therefore, it is important to take inventory of your cloud data and centralize the information for easy access. Additionally, understanding what is in the cloud will help you determine how best to secure the data.
Classify your data
In addition to taking inventory of the data stored in the cloud, it is also important to classify the data into different categories. Because all data is not the same, it should not be secured the same way.
Classifying your data into different categories allows your organization to apply different security solutions and policies to them.
Sensitive data that can only be accessed by certain users should have much higher security policies than public-facing data that does not require much additional security outside of traditional cloud storage security.
Use security access controls
Security access controls provide an extra layer of security for your data by only allowing authorized users to access it. Organizations can use many different types of access controls to authenticate user access.
Role-Based Access Control (RBAC), zero trust, and multi-factor authentication are some of the more common controls that can be used.
Educate and train employees on best practices
One of the most common ways ransomware enters a network is through human error. Ransomware attacks come in many different forms including malicious links and attachments in emails or malicious websites that are downloaded by users unintentionally.
Educating yourself and your employees on the concept of phishing emails and malicious links and attachments is important. Preventing your team from clicking on a phishing email or link on a website will help avoid cyberattacks.
Integrating security solutions to prevent ransomware
Now you understand what ransomware is and some ways to prevent it. However, it is also important to understand the security solutions that can help prevent ransomware.
The security solutions that can help your network prevent ransomware include:
Zero trust
One of the more common solutions organizations use to avoid ransomware is incorporating zero-trust security. This is typically done by installing Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA).
ZTNA is a security method that requires verification from any user looking to access resources on a network.
Firewalls protect the edge of the network and differentiate between trusted and untrusted users to protect the network. Users and data inside your firewall are known as trusted and outside of your firewall are known as untrusted.
However, if your network is compromised, it is no longer trusted. To address this, ZTNA takes the approach that every network is untrusted because if someone compromises a device that is on your trusted network, your trusted network is now untrusted.
SASE
In today’s world, most organizations utilize the cloud to store, send, and receive data.
Utilizing the cloud makes it easier to store, send, and receive this data faster, but it also makes your organization an easier target for ransomware attacks if proper cloud security is not in place.
To avoid ransomware attacks, incorporating an enhanced cloud security solution such as SASE is beneficial if you rely on the cloud to store sensitive data.
Avoiding ransomware in your organization
Now you understand what ransomware is, the ways to prevent it in a cloud environment, and the security solutions that can help avoid it. This will enable you to determine the best way to avoid ransomware.
If your organization has poor cloud security, it can lead to vulnerabilities that result in cyberattacks such as ransomware. Ransomware can corrupt or compromise your data in the cloud and cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to regain the data.
This will also lead to sensitive data being compromised. Additionally, your organization may suffer legal ramifications if industry compliance is violated.
Coeo understands how important reliable cloud security is and has delivered thousands of security solutions and services to improve security and help avoid ransomware.
We want you to understand how to prevent ransomware so you avoid becoming a victim of it.
If you would like to speak with our team to learn more about ransomware and cloud security or ask any questions you may have you can schedule an appointment.
Now that you understand how to prevent ransomware, read this article to understand the best practices to improve cloud security:
