The Impact of Ransomware on Data Security
Ransomware is defined as a type of malware program which is designed and spread unethically by the cyber criminals. These program takes hold of the access to the operating system and encrypts the data. The infected users of those operating systems had to pay a ransom amount to decrypt their data. The cyber criminals sometimes blackmail the users of those infected systems by partially decrypting the encrypted data (Goldshmid 2018). The decrypted data was sent the same way it was stolen from those systems.
There are different categories of ransomware which were affecting 74 countries such as the Wannacry ransomware, lock screen ransomware, encrypting ransomware. Later different risk mitigation steps were adopted by different organizations so that they can deal with the issue.
The foremost determination of this paper is to focus on the security of data considering the cyber security attacks. The cyber security attacks such as the ransomware attacks is a major source of concern for every business organization which considers data as one of their assets. The ransomware is one of the most disruptive types of attack and was infecting millions of peoples all over the world. There was a time when these cyber security attacks were increasingly hugely (Lynch 2017). The SMA or the small and medium sized enterprises were most affected by it. More than 74 countries allover world had a direct impact of the ransomware. The organization where data is an asset and works on smaller budget and resources had great difficulty in dealing with these kinds of cyber security issues. Data security and data recovery is an important issue considering the threat coming from Ransomware.
The security and the safety of the data are very important these days due to the increasing number of cyber-attacks. The data which are circulated in a business environment, government offices, embassies of other countries or in a public sector industry are not very much safe due to the increasing number of attacks coming from the cyber criminals.
At the same time, it can be also said that the measures for which data security can be maintained can be risky for the users as well as the measures have their own limitations which can have a separate problem for the users.
Data security is one of the most important aspect of every organization which deals with both structured and unstructured data. Both the physical files and the digital files are important for the growth and development of the organization which deals with data.
Data Security Components and Ransomware
According to Martin et al. (2017) Our data is not all safe from the attacks of ransomware as the cybercriminals who are spreading this program is well equipped against all different types of risk mitigation steps. It can be said that the ransomeware can also infect the encrypted drives which were supposed to store any kinds of data safely. The data which are stored in the cloud services are also vulnerable to ransomeware. The new and innovative strategies are adopted by these cybercriminals so the effectiveness of the risk mitigation strategies should be also checked frequently so that the risk mitigation steps can be updated accordingly Any kinds of unauthorized access can be very much harmful for both personal and professional point of view considering data security against ransomwaree. Data disclosure is also a very important aspect considering the data security of the business organizations (Mohurle and Patil 2017). Authorization of data is very much essential for those organizations. Modification of the data can also a source of a problem in every big and small business organizations. The modification of data may mislead the authorities to a huge extent, data should be protected from unauthorized access. The three different types of data security components are:
Confidentiality: The attack of ransomware can ensure that the data is not safe from unauthorized access, cyber criminals can extend their impact on an already infected system or an organization as a whole.
Integrity: The integrity of the data is not maintained while a system is affected by the cyber criminals with the help of the ransomware program. The accuracy of the data is not maintained even after the stolen data is returned in exchange of the ransom amount (Castro, Cartwright and Stepanova 2018). The data which once falls under the prey of ransomware can have the possibility of getting corrupted as soon as it is returned back to the users.
Availability: Data reliability is one of the most important aspect of a business organizations which is impacted hugely due to the impact of the ransomware attack. The data security standard has to be maintained by all the organizations which have to deal with essential data which can directly or indirectly help them in the growth and development of the organization.
On the other hand there are other aspects of data security considering the effect of ransomware. The spreading of the ransomeware was increasing and the data security of different business organizations was at stake. It can be seen that the data security components are not followed in every organization which deals with raw data. Raw data are the most vulnerable to the cyber criminals.
Reasons for the Rise of Ransomware
Based on the different perspectives of data security it can be seen that there are different aspects of data security which are seriously needed to be considered so that the data can be kept safe from the major cyber security issues such as the ransomeware.
The reasons behind the rise of ransomware in the organizations which deal with data are as followings:
The application of bitcoins in various types of online business which deals with data such as the gaming and lottery websites (Bhardwaj 2017). The use of bitcoins in these industries were very much important for the cybercriminals as the ransom amount is paid in the form of bitcoins only. The ransom demands were fulfilled most with the help of the bitcoins.
The organizations such as the retail banks, healthcare industries, transportations industries, agricultural industry and the entertainment industry uses a service known as the RaaS which is the other reason behind the wide spreading of the ransomware attack. The systems which are involved in the storing of the data sometimes lacked the runtime detection capabilities which is the other important reasons behind the limited detection of the cyber security threats such as the ransomware (Osborne 2018). The opening of the spammed emails is the other essential factor regarding the spreading of the cyber threats. The data security of the systems was negatively impacted with the help of the ransomware issues.
This is a type of encryptions which have a huge damage to all the organizations which deals with data. The security of the data is compromised if this type of malware is used for infecting this system (Formby, Durbha and Beyah 2017). The important files are sometimes lost when this type of malware is used for data encryption. The iCloud account holders are were very much affected by the
The apple devices are also very much prone to the threats coming from the ransomware.
The following ways will guide the readers of this document to have an idea about the preventive mechanisms of ransomware program.
The most sensitive and the valuable files are the mostly impacted due to the attack of the ransomware. Creation of a backup support is one of the most important preventive measures considering data security. This is a type of precautionary step which can be actively used by all the users of the computer systems which deals with both structured and unstructured data. The use of the cloud services for storing the backup files should be practiced more in order to protect the data from the cyber criminals (Scaife et al. 2016). The invasion of the criminals will not be having an effect if the essential data are stored in the cloud services.
Prevention and Mitigation Strategies for Ransomware
Along with that it can be said that separate investments are required for the additional backup of data due to the complexities like ransomeware.
Botnets and spam emails are actively used by the cybercriminals to spread this disease. The email attachments should only be opened or downloaded if the there is adequate data security measure in a computer system. The most important aspect of this data prevention technique is the identification of the spam emails. The efficient identification of the spam email is very much important for maintaining the security of the data. The antispam filters are very much important as a preventive technique from the ransomware. The phishing simulation tests are also an efficient technique for this deadly malware program. Robust filtering process should be encouraged in every computer system which deals with essential data. The data which are circulated from one organization to another or which are circulated within the organization can be successfully maintained with the help of a filtering process which is known as Robust filtering (Sharma, Zawar and Patil 2016). The robust filtering process can be effectively used for reducing the chances of attack, it helps in the significant reduction of the emails which contains the malicious programs attached to it.
The encryption process of the ransomware can be effectively impacted with the help of the ransomware. The control servers can be impacted with the incorporation of the firewall. The encryption process can be hampered with the help of the firewall. The attack coming from the ransomware can be impacted with the help of the firewall.
Along with that it can be said that firewall block few websites or applications which are sometimes very much needed to be used by the users. The limitations of firewall should be checked by the concerned authorities so that they can actually identify the applications or websites which are vulnerable considering data security.
The extensions such as the .zip, .js, .exe, .rar., ,docm, .rtf., .vbs, .scr, .cmd are very risky type of attachments and these attachments are the main reasons behind the effective spreading of the ransom Trojan horses. These harmful extensions should be blocked so that the security of the data is maintained.
On the other hand, it can be said that many useful applications will be not supported in a system as it is recommended to block the above discussed extensions.
The remote support applications such as the TeamViewer can be effectively used by the cybercriminals to deal with the internal security of systems. So these remote applications should be avoided purposefully avoided so that the essential data can be saved from the cyber criminals.
Along with that it can be also said that separate knowledge is required for using the application such as TeamViewer. This is a very important limitation of the remote services and special attention should be drawn so that the desired objectives of these remote services can be achieved.
The application of the decryption ransomware tools is important for all the infected computer systems. It has the capability to block the access to the data which are about to be accessed by the cyber criminals.
Along with that it should be also stated that there are many complicated issues such as the API issues associated with the ransomware tools. These issues can create more problems while solving the problem of data security.
The users of the organizations which deals with data should be having a restriction on the execution of the codes as the ransomware are designed in such a way that they have the capability to access the files and folders.
The software which are used in our computer systems should be updated, as the updated versions sometimes have an internal security measure which can help the user to tackle with problem of ransomware. The use of the lockers is the other source of threat coming from the ransomware (Thornton, Dworak and Manikas 2017). The use of fake software’s such as the Scareware is also a reason behind the insecurity of data safety. Doxware is one of the most important reason behind the incorporation of the ransomware in a computer system.
The disadvantage of updating the software is the extra data expense, efficient cloud services can be an alternative for the protection of data.
The alteration of data is one of the most negative impact of ransomware. If the essential data is altered in business organizations, then the enterprises can suffer severe losses. The user controls should be restricted as it would help them in the prevention of ransomware. Termination of all the systems create a blockage from the ransomware programs as well.
On the other hand, it can be said that the security of data will not be an issue if there is a strong alphanumeric password protected platform which have the limited capability against the threats coming the hackers.
The impact of ransomware can be effective reduced with the help of the local administration rights. The critical components of the ransomware attack can be effectively reduced if the local administrative rights can be regulated (Georgiou et al. 2018). The power to change the system files and directories associated with the ransomware attack can be reduced if the local administration blocks access to the critical system resources and the vital files which are targeted by the cyber criminals. The encryption process can get complicated with the help of the local administration.
On the other hand, it can be said that, there are different issues related with the association of the location governments with the data, as they are the mostly corrupted sometimes.
According to Bertino and Islam (2017) security of data is a huge issues considering the cyber security attacks such as the ransomeware. Data management is an important issue for all the organizations which deals with structured and unstructured data. The author of this article provided in-depth knowledge about the cyber trust which is very important for the protection of data. The authors of this article has provided information about the network behavior analysis which is important to understand the nature of the network. The risks coming from the ransomeware in data security are mentioned in this paper with prime importance. The drawback of this paper is that it do not focuses on the impact of ransomware on any particular organization.
This section of the paper will be focusing on the steps which are very much required after a ransomware attack. Identification of the ransomware is one of the most important step after the data’s are successfully recovered from the cyber criminals. The identification of the ransomware can be successfully achieved with the help of the free online service platform which is known as the ID Ransomware. After successfully identifying the infected computer, the ransomware detection tools must be checked which is already integrated into our system, if it is not integrated in our system then it should be installed as it would help those systems from getting infected from the malicious programs such as the ransomware. The data which were not controlled by the cyber criminals should be kept away from the system and the data which are recovered from the criminals should be also checked whether it possess any kinds of threats to the computer system.
Kaspersky windows un locker should be installed in every computer system which work on essential data. It is sometimes very much helpful for protection of data due to its high security measures. The cyber-crime cells should be alerted after the data is recovered so that they can take all the precautionary steps so that they can save the other peoples who were about to get infected due to the effect of this deadly malware program. BYOD or the Bring Your Own Device Policy should be incorporated in most of the business enterprises as this policy is very much effective to deal with the advanced cyber securities attacks such as Ransomware which is used by the cyber criminals to hamper data safety.
Conclusion
From the above report it, can be concluded that home users and the small and medium sized enterprises are the most important targets of the cyber criminals as most of them do not have a data backup every time due to various reasons. The increasing threat to the data security due to the ransomware can be decreased with the help of awareness of cyber security education. Online safety awareness measures should be considered every entity which are dedicatedly working with structured and unstructured data. Cyber protection is one of the other security measure considering data security in a business enterprise.
The use of the free and infective anti-virus software’s should be discouraged as they are really not very effective against the ransomware programs due to its enhanced specifications. Social engineering tactics should be practiced in order to save the data from the cyber criminals. The ransomware has the capability of infecting the data as well as the server which can also indirectly effect the data at some point of time so along with the security of the data, security of the servers should also be maintained so that overall security is maintained in the environment. The cloud based file sharing systems are also vulnerable to the ransomware attacks also, which are actively used for the data security purposes so it is the responsibility of the cloud based service providers to increase their security level so that the data which are stored in their premises are saved from these malware programs.
Reference
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