5 Tips to Prevent Government Focused Ransomware Attacks

Ransomware attacks, particularly government focused, are on a rise. The recent cyberattack on the city of Baltimore’s government is a clear example of this. It took the city months to recover from this attack.

The attack used some sort of the latest ransomware virus known as Robin Hood, which is considered unbreakable and is very deadly.

These attacks are not the first and surely there would be many in the future, so it is best to be prepared beforehand before it is too late.

5 Tips to Prevent Government Ransomware Attacks

There is still some hope left. More and more local governments are restoring operations without paying the ransom by simply implementing a ransomware resistant backup before the attack.

Following are certain strategies and tips which can be used to help achieve a ransomware resistant backup and gain protection against ransomware attacks.

1.      Different OS of Backup Appliance

Many government agencies and governments, in general, use a backup appliance. Since most of the ransomware attacks are designed for Windows operating systems, getting a Linux based backup appliance can eliminate the threat of an attack.

By opting a Linux based backup appliance, the likelihood of backup data being attacked or corrupted by ransomware is reduced drastically.

2.      Keep All Hardware & Software Updated

Outdated hardware and software is just like an invitation to a ransomware attack. A recent example of a ransomware attack at the city of Baltimore shows us how important it is to keep the hardware and software up to date.

The hackers exploited the weakness and vulnerabilities in outdated hardware and software to get into the networks. This allowed hackers to deploy ransomware without getting noticed.

To avoid such incidents, governments should make sure that their hardware and software, both are always up to date.

3.      Backup & Disaster Recovery

The only way to take back control, when ransomware strikes are through backups. This ensures that there is no amount of data loss and nullifies the need of paying any ransom.

A backup and disaster recovery appliance or a cloud based disaster recovery solution, allows governments to immediately failover to a secure cloud and keep the services running, even if it takes time to restore locally.

4.      Early Detection

Ransomware attacks are evolving day by day. The only way to take back control is through backups. However, backups need to be secure as well, in order for them to be used.

Many backup and disaster recovery appliances have built in software which can detect abnormalities and can detect ransomware in its initial stage. This alerts the admins and helps them to take care of it before it starts spreading.

5.      Test Your Backup & Disaster Recovery Solution

A backup is not worth anything if it cannot be recovered at the time when actual recovery of data is needed. The only way to make sure that data recovery works is by regularly testing it, ahead of time, to make sure that there are no errors or complications.

Conclusion

Ransomware attacks have gone up exponentially, especially in the government agencies. To treat with such threats a good backup and disaster recovery solution should be in place. It should be reliable and self-efficient so that there is no risk of data loss, downtime or paying the ransom.