Since the outburst of the COVID-19 pandemic, cyber-attacks are on the rise. This is because the pandemic had forced businesses to work remotely. Organizations were not prepared for this sudden change, which is why cybercriminals have increased their attacks. They can easily locate vulnerabilities in the networks and systems and target those vulnerabilities to hijack their data. Therefore, all businesses are in dire need to re-evaluate their enterprise security strategy and ransomware recovery plans.
Companies should take a proactive cybersecurity stance and create advanced security around their networks and data. Doing so will save them from irreparable losses that can incur once a ransomware attack hits you. Also, to make their firewalls even more invincible, businesses should hire cyber security solutions for their companies. This is because they will not only guard you against the bad actors but in an event of misfortune, they will save you from bigger disasters. Here in this blog, we have enlisted a few of the methods you can try once you are infected by a ransomware attack.
How Does Ransomware Work?
Ransomware is a virus/malware that when enters into a network, encrypts files and operating systems. As a result of which, the users will not be able to access key data stores and their computers become completely inoperable. Once ransomware is installed on your system, you get a warning screen that provides detailed payment instructions that, if followed, will restore access to the ransomware encrypted files. After paying the ransom, the operators typically send the victim a set of decryption keys that will decrypt files. However, sometimes, even after paying the ransom, the attackers don’t return the control and run away.
This menace can spread in a number of ways but the most common method cybercriminals use is email phishing. They send provocative emails to the employees of the company they want to target. These emails contain either an infected link or an infected attachment. And when the user of the system clicks on the link or tries to install the attachment, the process of ransomware starts. One thing to remember here, this method of the ransomware attack can destroy even the most advanced security strategy of your organization.
Methods You can Try for Ransomware Recovery:
Although there are many strategies that can work in data recovery after a ransomware attack, yet we have enlisted a few of the ones that don’t need services of cyber security solutions.
Isolate the Infected System:
Before trying anything, isolate the system that is infected from the network. This will save you from the greater damage. If you don’t do this, the ransomware will spread to other computers in your organization (if it has not already). To do this, simply disconnect that system from the internet and shut down the system. Furthermore, before going offline, it is better to log out of any cloud storage connected to your browser.
Run a Full Scan:
Some cybercriminals use scareware in their ransomware attacks. These attacks can’t do much harm besides bombarding your system with pop-ups and illegitimate adverts. In this type of attack, your files remain safe and these are only designed to scare you. You must have an anti-virus installed on your systems, running a full scan with it often removes the problem. Several other tools are also dedicated to ‘ransomware removal’. But if your files are encrypted, the scan will not get your files back.
Recovery from Backups:
After a ransomware attack, the first thing you can try is; recover your data from backups (if you have kept them). But before trying this method, make sure your backups are not infected. You can secure your backups if you keep them offline or offsite.
Use Data Recovery Software:
Data recovery software can sometimes get you back your data. The operators of ransomware first make copies of your files and then deletes the original ones. The encrypted files that you see on your systems are actually copies of the original ones. So, data recovery software can recover those deleted files. This is one of the easiest ways of data recovery.
Window Restoration Method:
After you are attacked by ransomware, you can try to restore your files with the help of window restoration. You can restore your window to an earlier point of time; doing this will return most of your data. However, you will not get cent percent data. You can use this recovered data to create the remaining files. One thing you must keep in mind, before trying any ransomware recovery technique is, remove the malware from your system, otherwise, recovery will do no good to you.
