5 simple ways for protection

Security experts from Beyond Security, a leading provider of automated security testing solutions including vulnerability assessment, released 5 effective and easy tips to follow for protecting against serious Internet security threats that can cause both financial and emotional damages:

1. Use an up-to-date and supported operating system. All victims of recent WannaCry Ransomware were using legacy Windows operating systems. Windows 10 in contrast has built-in protective measures that obstruct many forms of Ransomware.

2. Deploy preventive tools like vulnerability assessment. Vulnerability assessment tools can accurately identify close to 100% of common vulnerabilities that are exploited by malware. A simple- and regular- vulnerability assessment of these affected systems followed by proper remediation actions such as patch management would have stopped WannaCry dead in its tracks.

3. Check the credentials of your ISV to make certain your applications have been built with security in mind. There are great preventive measures like static code analysis (white box testing) and dynamic code analysis (black box testing or fuzzing) which drastically reduce the attack surface of applications.

4. Build a redundant store. Backing up your critical data regularly reduces the impact of a potentially successful Ransomware attack. It goes without saying that data storage must be coupled with other hardening measures such as encryption and strong authentication.

5. Buy insurance. Even with taking all the above measures, there is a chance that an attacker may get through since full security is never guaranteed. There are options to buy cybersecurity insurance policies that will protect you in rare cases that an attack is successful.