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Prepare your small business for ransomware attacks
Ransomware is a threat to all organizations, but small businesses are particularly at risk. Mitigation efforts and recovery planning are key to keep smaller companies in business.
Ransomware is a particularly nasty cyberattack that receives considerable attention in large organizations due to its effectiveness, frequency and difficulty to prevent. In a small business, ransomware attacks could cause the end of the entire organization.
Ransomware is one of the most dangerous and common threats small businesses face. The effects can be devastating, often resulting in the company failing. IT teams and leadership at small businesses must carefully consider the value of mitigation techniques and professional services against losing business income and customer trust.
Ransomware uses asymmetric encryption to encrypt essential business documents, databases, images, multimedia and other files. If the organization pays the ransom, the cybercriminals deliver a private key to decrypt the data. If the ransom is not paid, the business will likely never regain access to the content.
Ransomware attacks are no longer initiated solely by experts. Ransomware-as-a-service attacks have emerged, with developers selling ransomware code. According to Verizon's "2024 Data Breach Investigations Report," ransomware was responsible for 23% of breaches in the previous year.
Small businesses face unique challenges when it comes to cybersecurity. Implementing proper backup techniques, avoiding phishing scams and preventing man-in-the-middle attacks -- all on a small business budget -- means smaller organizations are constantly challenged to protect themselves from malicious actors.
To better mitigate the threat that ransomware presents, small businesses must know how ransomware works and why it targets them. They must also understand the consequences of not preventing a ransomware attack. With that knowledge, IT teams can implement mitigation opportunities and best practices that fit within the budgets and schedules unique to small businesses.
Why attack a small business?
Typically, a small business consists of fewer than 500 employees, which is what makes them good targets for ransomware attackers. Most small businesses don't have dedicated technology experts and security personnel. Those skill sets are specialized and costly, so small businesses often lack access to the necessary resources and expertise to prevent ransomware attacks.
Another reason small businesses are vulnerable is that many don't believe they are targets. They simply don't think their organization is valuable enough to be targeted by cybercriminals. Surely, those malicious actors will go after the big money at the big organizations, right?
That's a dangerous illusion. It means the organization doesn't take the threat seriously, leading to complacency -- a perfect recipe for disaster. According to Datto, 13% of small and medium-sized businesses suffered ransomware attacks in 2023.
Small businesses can be profitable targets for ransomware attackers, and the likelihood of success is often much higher because of the lack of hefty security resources.
How ransomware can wreak havoc on a small business
Ransomware can hit small businesses disproportionally hard. Recovery costs are high, and the organizations typically have little time to respond before their cash flow is exhausted. Repercussions of ransomware attacks can include the following:
- Ransomware fees, which don't even guarantee recovery.
- Legal ramifications, especially with partner organizations.
- Costly data recovery.
- Damage to the company's reputation and loss of customer trust.
Time is a significant factor for small businesses. They often don't have the financial reserves to survive downtime, productivity loss and recovery costs. A successful ransomware attack could drive them out of business almost immediately. About 75% of respondents told Datto that a ransomware attack would probably cause their company to fail.
Common attack vectors
To aid mitigation efforts, there are several common attacks IT teams must be aware of. These can include email phishing attacks, downloadable social media content, exploitation of operating system weaknesses, and infected websites and devices.
To ensure they have addressed potential vulnerabilities, small business IT personnel should inventory the company's technology resources.
Mitigate ransomware threats on a small business budget
While ransomware might seem too big to handle for many nontechnical small business owners, there are several things they can do to improve the business's chances of surviving this type of attack. There are three areas where a small business can add mitigation efforts: training, technology and planning.
Training
- Train employees to identify email phishing and scams. Look for local security professionals who might deliver this training at the business site.
- Train employees on how to use good passwords, especially when multifactor authentication (MFA) isn't available.
- Train employees regarding downloading files on business computers.
Technology
- Use MFA in every aspect of the business whenever possible.
- Proactively patch operating systems and applications. Most vendors offer reliable maintenance.
- Maintain an automated backup plan for all critical data. Cloud-based backups are cost-effective and simple. Consider air-gapped backups on-site as well.
- Periodically test backups to ensure critical data is recoverable.
- Consider cloud services and subscriptions that maintain and patch systems and software.
Planning
- Maintain an incident response plan that outlines what to do if an email phishing scheme appears to be successful.
- Maintain an incident response plan that outlines what to do if a ransomware attack is successful.
- Implement network segmentation to isolate traffic to sections of the business network. One example is isolating point-of-sale systems away from back-office accounting software and computers.
Backups are a key part of mitigating ransomware and other attacks. The 3-2-1 backup strategy is one reliable method: three copies of data, stored in two locations, with one on alternate media.
Finally, consider not permitting employees to use personal devices to conduct business or access business resources.
Damon Garn owns Cogspinner Coaction and provides freelance IT writing and editing services. He has written multiple CompTIA study guides, including the Linux+, Cloud Essentials+ and Server+ guides, and contributes extensively to TechTarget Editorial and CompTIA Blogs.
