We protect what matters most: your data, your reputation and your business.
Ransomware has gone from random malicious software to a multi-billion dollar industry (RaaS - Ransomware as a Service). It's no longer a matter of IF your organization will be attacked, but WHEN. The difference between a security anecdote and a business catastrophe lies solely in preparedness.
Modern attackers don't just encrypt; they practice double extortion: encrypting your data and threatening to publish sensitive information if you don't pay. Therefore, backups, while vital, are no longer the only solution. Defense in depth is required assuming the perimeter will be breached.
If the attacker gains administrator credentials (and they will try), the first thing they will do is search and destroy your backups. This is where the concept of immutability comes in: backups that, by design (WORM - Write Once, Read Many), cannot be modified or deleted, not even by a superuser, during a specified period of time.
In addition to backup, it is vital to stop lateral movement. A marketing user does not need RDP access to the database server. Microsegmentation is effective: if an endpoint falls, the infection stays there, in an isolated "island", protecting the rest of the fleet.
“Paying the ransom does not guarantee recovering your data, but it does guarantee funding the next attack against yourself.”
Zenith Privacy
At Primitive, we strongly recommend disabling obsolete protocols like SMBv1 and restricting PowerShell to non-technical users. Many ransomware variants use legitimate administration scripts to deploy themselves without raising suspicions from traditional antivirus software.
Having a "red button" is part of the response plan. If you detect massive encryption, can you isolate the affected VLAN in seconds? Below is a conceptual example of how to monitor massive file changes, an early indicator of encryption.
Anomaly detection logic (Honeyfiles) on file servers:
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# Conceptual example of honeyfile monitoring in PowerShell
$watcher = New-Object System.IO.FileSystemWatcher
$watcher.Path = "C:\SensitiveData"
$watcher.Filter = "Do_Not_Touch.docx" # Honeyfile
$watcher.IncludeSubdirectories = $false
$watcher.EnableRaisingEvents = $true
$action = {
$path = $Event.SourceEventArgs.FullPath
Write-Host "ALERT: Ransomware detected touching $path" -ForegroundColor Red
# Network isolation script would run here
# Invoke-IsolationProtocol -TargetIP $LocalIP
}
Register-ObjectEvent $watcher "Changed" -Action $action
User education remains the most important human firewall. No technology can stop a user who voluntarily hands over their credentials on a convincing phishing site. Continuous awareness is the most profitable investment.
