Improving Backup System Evaluations in Information Security Risk Assessments to Combat Ransomware

Abstract

Ransomware is the fastest growing malware threat and accounts for the majority of extortion based malware threats causing billions of dollars in losses for organizations around the world. Ransomware is a global epidemic that afflicts all types of organizations that utilize computing infrastructure. Once systems are infected and storage is encrypted, victims have little choice but to pay the ransom and hope their data is released or start over and rebuild their systems. Either remedy can be costly and time consuming. However, backups can be used to restore data and systems to a known good state prior to ransomware infection. This makes backups the last line of defense and most effective remedy in combating ransomware. Accordingly, information security risk assessments should evaluate backup systems and their ability to address ransomware threats. Yet, NIST SP-800-30 does not list ransomware as a specific threat. This study reviews the ransomware process, functional backup architecture paradigms, their ability to address ransomware attacks, and provides suggestions to improve the guidance in NIST SP-800-30 and information security risk assessments to better address ransomware threats.

Individual Cyber Security: Empowering Employees to Resist Spear Phishing to Prevent Identity Theft and Ransomware Attacks

“…Ransomware, often distributed by phishing, is an extortion-based malware threat that is growing rapidly and that proves a significant IT problem that is challenging for both users and IT professionals (Thomas & Galligher, 2018). Ransomware has many different vectors of attack such as social engineering strategies like phishing and spear phishing (when users open emails or click on malicious links from websites or instant messages) (Allen, 2017).…”

“…Ransomware attacks and infections are growing at an alarming rate and have become a global problem (Lelii, 2017). Ransomeware is the most prominent type of extortion-based malware attack (Thomas & Galligher, 2018).…”

“…Ransomware has been a prevalent topic in recent news stories (Thomas & Galligher, 2018). One example is the WannaCry ransomware attack.…”

“…Ransomware is dangerous and difficult to control (Thomas & Galligher, 2018). Even when attempting to target a specific group of computer systems, ransomware can be difficult to control.…”

“…The effects of the attacks from these few examples were devastating (Thomas & Galligher, 2018). Businesses lost access to critical computer systems.…”