Page 70 - Cyber Defense Magazine for August 2020

4 Simple Ways to Repel Ransomware as The Rise in

Remote Work Continues
By Kris Lahiri, Co-founder and Chief Security Officer of Egnyte

Ransomware attacks are now the most common security incident taking place today. According to a
recent report from TrustWave, ransomware rates quadrupled in 2019, accounting for one out of every
five security incidents and unseating payment card theft as the most prevalent threat category. This spike
in ransomware couldn’t come at a worse time, as companies all over the world are grappling with many
operational and security challenges associated with the coronavirus-induced shift to remote work.

Why is this such a problem? IT and security leaders are generally all too aware of this threat and well-
equipped to defend against it in conventional business environments. But with the vast majority of
employees working from home, the traditional network perimeter has evaporated and so have many
foundational security protections. For a 1,000 person company that’s become 100% remote,
administrators now have 1,000 mini networks to protect against this onslaught of ransomware attacks
instead of one or several – but without the same level of control or defenses. And unfortunately the tried
and true method of simply implementing backup and recovery policies to safeguard against successful
ransomware infections isn’t as practical or realistic with a massively distributed, off-network workforce.

Cyber Defense eMagazine – August 2020 Edition 70
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