Originally broadcast Thursday, August 19, 2021, PTP led a panel of experts to discuss crafting a plan to combat ransomware. Moderated by Gary Derheim of PTP, the panel featured Chris Jordan of Fluency Security, Adam Johnson and Kirby Kaylor from Carbonite, and Rick Pitcairn of PTP. The panel outlined the evolution of ransomware, emerging threats like Ransomware-as-a-Service, and practical steps to build a living plan to mitigate risk.
Notable Facts, Figures, and Trends:
- 16.2 days: average downtime after a ransomware attack.
- $84,000: average ransom paid; $41,000 median.
- 3,000% increase in remote user targeting.
Adversaries are increasingly patient, waiting out retention policies to inflict maximum damage. Ransomware variants like TrickBot now operate silently, scanning for valuable data before encrypting files after backups are no longer viable.
Key Plan Elements from the Panel
- Framework First: Use a proven security framework like NIST to guide protection, detection, response, and recovery
- Inventory Everything: Understand your infrastructure—cloud, endpoints, mobile, and SD-WAN
- Backup with Six Key Ingredients: Automatic, off-site, immutable, granular, point-in-time capable, and flexible
- Make It a Living Plan: Continually adapt as new people, tools, and cloud services emerge
- Stateful Understanding of Data: Use behavioral models to detect anomalies before escalation
- End-User Awareness: Monthly security training and phishing simulations to improve user posture
At PTP, we combine managed detection and response with cloud-native tools and frameworks to help organizations adapt to the evolving cybersecurity landscape. Our approach emphasizes prevention, resilience, and visibility at every layer.
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