Don’t break the bank: Stopping ransomware from getting the best of your business
In a world full of emerging cyber threats, ransomware—one of the earliest documented forms of cyberattacks—continues to pose a serious threat to organizations of all sizes. Even with cyber spending at an all-time high—to the tune of $219 billion globally—ransomware attacks continue to occur. But why?
The reason is that cyberattacks are getting more sophisticated and firewalls and VPNs were built for a time when most people were working within the confines of an office. Today, with the cloud, mobility, and the rise of hybrid work, an organization’s attack surface has exponentially expanded. In other words, the landscape has fundamentally changed, and so the ways to secure it must change as well.
According to Zscaler research, there was a 37% increase in ransomware attacks in 2023, with hackers demanding an average of $5.3 million (the actual ransom payments averaged over $100,000). Their staying power can be attributed to the fact that the technology and techniques that threat actors use to commit ransomware crimes continue to evolve, tipping the scale in their favor and leaving businesses at a disadvantage.
However, there are measures that leaders can take to protect themselves against large-scale attacks. The first step to preventing these attacks begins with an understanding of the latest trends, techniques, and motivations of cyberattackers.
The life cycle of a cyberattack
Regardless of the method that threat actors use to commit cyberattacks—phishing, malware, and, yes, ransomware—the stages of every attack are remarkably similar. The end goal is gaining access to something of value—most often, sensitive, proprietary, or personal data. The stages of a cyberattack are analogous to that of a bank robbery. When discussing the progression of a cyberattack with CXOs, I often describe it like this:
• Stage 1: When bank robbers are planning a heist, the first thing they do is identify potential banks to target. In the cyber world, the bank represents your external attack surface—the part that’s visible to threat actors.
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• Stage 2: Next, the thieves will devise a way to get inside the bank without being detected to…
