How To Protect Against Ransomware

Nov 27, 2017

How To Protect Against Ransomware

BY Chris Brunau


In the past two months, we have seen two major ransomware attacks in WannaCry and NotPetya. As the ransomware threat continues to grow, it's imperative to learn how you can protect against ransomware. 

A proper ransomware protection strategy requires a three-pronged approach, including education, security, and backup.

  • Education: Education is essential to protect your business from ransomware. It's critical that your staff understands what ransomware is and the threats that it poses. Provide your team with specific examples of suspicious emails with clear instructions on what to do if they encounter a potential ransomware lure (i.e. don’t open attachments, if you see something, say something, etc.). It's also a good idea to conduct bi-annual formal training to inform staff about the risk of ransomware and other cyber threats.

  • Security: Antivirus software should be considered essential for any business to protect against ransomware and other risks. Ensure your security software is up to date to protect against newly identified threats. Keep all business applications patched and updated to minimize vulnerabilities.


As always, taking the proper precautions is the best way to protect yourself from any form of ransomware. In the event you’re attacked, the best way to avoid paying a ransom is to have a proper backup and disaster recovery (BDR) solution with up-to-date backups. This will allow you to restore your data to a point in time before the infection and retain your data. To learn more about ransomware and what you can to do avoid losing your data, visit our ransomware resource page.

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