The winning strategy for SMB ransomware protection
It’s no secret that the threat of ransomware is showing no sign of slowing down, especially as organizations around the world come to terms with hybrid and remote working. The impact of an attack can be severe to say the least – according to the UK Government’s 2022 ‘Cyber Security Breaches Survey’ 39% of UK businesses identified a cyber-attack in the last 12 months. 83% of these businesses reported phishing attempts, and 26% identified a more sophisticated attack type such as a denial of service, malware, or a ransomware attack.
Unfortunately, businesses overestimate the role of technology in preventing attacks. Just as a manager of a sports team wouldn’t bank on their star forward to win every game, organizations should think about diversifying their approach to security.
Businesses cannot solely rely on technology
Given the growing volume and severity of these threats, smaller businesses are investing heavily in technology to protect against the risk of a devastating attack. Enter Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) solutions, an increasingly popular automated technology that can be deployed to detect and help remediate possible threats before they become dangerous.
The trouble is, the majority of EDR detections are never investigated, throwing a spanner in the works for the notion that tech should support and augment human expertise. Alerts to threats are one thing, but finding a way to action them and prevent further intrusions is a whole other ball game.
This lack of response to alerts might not be as surprising as it sounds. In the same way that an onslaught of e-mails or phone calls at work can throw you off your stride, receiving too many EDR notifications can cause even the most experienced IT administrator to experience a kind of ‘decision paralysis’, ultimately leading to a failure to adequately address the problems the technology has identified. Pressure can ramp up to the point where turning off an EDR solution seems like the only play – a concerning trend whereby fatigued IT staff have simply reached their limit of cyberthreat tolerance.
Founder and CEO, Malwarebytes.
