Date: Mar 17, 2022
One of the most effective ways cybercriminals can execute ransomware attacks is email. Malicious actors continuously adapt to counteract defenses against their actions, automating their attacks to target organizations of all sizes. Hackers frequently access companies’ systems through phishing attacks. Phishing attacks are emails sent to trick employees into clicking on attachments or links with malicious code (ransomware) or into unwittingly granting access to protected systems to inject the ransomware. Cybercriminals often plan to compromise a system starting with a social engineered email.Emails deliver 96% of all social engineering attacks. Email authentication provides the best first-line defense against ransomware attacks.By implementing Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting and Conformance (DMARC) as their email authentication protocol, organizations add another level of protection to help combat the high percentage of phishing attacks originating from a fake sender. Designed to empower email domain owners to protect their domains from unauthorized use, this critical layer — often missing from more traditional email content filtering via artificial intelligence (AI) or machine learning (ML) — prevents cyber attackers from employing domains for business email compromise attacks, email scams/phishing, and other cyber threats.
What to do?
Implement strict password requirements.
Back up data regularly and test those backups to ensure they restore successfully.
Implement multifactor authentication (MFA).
Inventory and secure all privileged accounts.
Give employees local admin rights only when necessary.
Reduce the time between patching software and operating systems
What can you do when this happens to you?
If you find your network has been compromised, immediately shut down.
Identify the breach and type of virus or malware present.
Identify any data which might have been compromised or stolen and inform appropriate parties.
Rebuild the network from a known clean backup
Source: Guest Contributor, Tech Republic
Email authentication helps governments and private companies battle ransomware | TechRepublic
