Cyber Defense eMagazine March Edition for 2022

a version of your data before the attack, and you gain back control over your data. This way, the damage
done by the ransomware attack is reduced to a minimum.
However, by the time you find out about the attack, the attackers probably already copied and stole your
company data. This is where encryption comes in, as the second protection measure against
ransomware.
Every business possesses confidential information and data that should not be disclosed, such as
personal data of customers or trade secrets. Therefore, it is important to protect this information as best
as possible, for example through end-to-end encryption. When encrypted, the data contents are protected
from malicious software, since only worthless strings are transmitted to the attackers. Thus, without
interesting data, no worthwhile attack scenario arises, as the affected company cannot be blackmailed
into paying a ransom.
In the case of unencrypted data being involved in a data leak, there is no guarantee that the attacker will
not still publish sensitive data, regardless of whether the ransom has been paid. This would hit companies
particularly hard, as they not only suffer a huge financial loss but also must take responsibility for the lost
data.
In combination with the cloud, encryption solutions can offer even greater protection. In the event of an
attack, all securely encrypted files are protected and can be restored even if the attacker deletes the files.
However, regular backups and cloud-optimized encryption solutions, like Boxcryptor, are required to
ensure continuity. At the same time, it is important to choose an encryption solution with zero-knowledge,
so that only authorized people in your company will have access to sensitive company files.
An example: You decide in your company to store the data not only locally, but also with an automatic,
regular backup in the cloud storage of Microsoft and Dropbox. Additionally, you encrypt those data with
Boxcryptor before uploading to the cloud. If you now become a victim of a ransomware attack, you can
restore the affected data via your last backup in the Microsoft or Dropbox cloud. Moreover, you can be
sure that the attacker will not be able to do anything with the stolen data, as this data has been encrypted
with the key known only to you and is thus not visible to the attacker. You can rest easy and do not have
to pay a ransom.
Conclusion
Companies all over the world are falling victim to ransomware attacks. However, it is important to ask
how well or poorly prepared an organization is in the event of an attack. Fortunately, there are
preventative measures that can be taken:
- Make employees aware of spam and phishing emails.
- Back up your data regularly.
- Protect sensitive files with zero-knowledge encryption solutions.
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