From the course: The Cybersecurity Threat Landscape

Protect against malware and ransomware

From the course: The Cybersecurity Threat Landscape

Protect against malware and ransomware

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- [Instructor] A successful malware or ransomware attack can be catastrophic for both individuals and organizations. There are some simple steps you can take though to protect against both malware and ransomware. Let's look at five of them. First is frequent backups. If your system has been compromised by malware or ransomware, you may have lost access to some or all of the data on that system. If you've been keeping frequent data backups however, the impact goes from possibly devastating to merely inconvenient. Simply restore the backed up data onto an uninfected system. Backing up your data is especially important to recover from ransomware attacks that specifically target your data. Also make sure you test your backups. You don't want to attempt restoring your backups in an emergency only to find they're corrupted or not complete. Second, apply security updates and patches. Malware and ransomware can only work on systems that are vulnerable to their attacks. You can significantly reduce your exposure to malware and ransomware attacks by making sure your systems have all their security updates and patches. Next, upgrade to the latest operating system versions. If you've been putting off the expense or hassle of upgrading your operating systems to their most current versions, you could be exposing yourself to vulnerabilities that don't have patches. Plus, current operating systems are often designed to be more secure than previous versions. Fourth, install firewalls. Firewalls are designed to prevent unauthorized traffic from getting directly to your systems. Many forms of malware attempt to exploit systems that are directly connected to the internet without a firewall. There are also types of malware that once installed, attempt to communicate with a command and control system outside of the infected network. Hardware and software firewalls can block these malicious traffic flows. Finally, install anti malware software. No matter how much you try to protect your network and systems, malware can still be introduced by accident if a user becomes a victim of social engineering. That's why it's important to install antimalware software on all systems, and make sure the malware signatures are updated at least daily. By following these security controls, you will be significantly reducing your exposure to malware and ransomware.

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