No company wants to experience that: A sudden blocking of all computer systems combined with a ransom demand to unlock them again. While at first it was mainly larger companies that were affected, in recent weeks the attacks have increasingly been directed at small and medium-sized companies and we are receiving more and more enquiries about this problem. Therefore, we would like to take this opportunity to briefly discuss how an IT provider and managed services can help you in this situation.
Ransomware is malicious software designed to encrypt the data on the target system. The victim is thus rendered incapable of acting and is then blackmailed for an arbitrary sum of money in order to restore access to the data. What is particularly disturbing is that when paying the demanded amount, one can neither be sure that one will actually regain access nor that one will not be robbed again or have one's data resold on the Darknet.
The professional management of your business applications by an IT service provider gives you more room for manoeuvre in this situation. On the one hand, we ensure the protection of your data against external attacks with a range of measures at both the physical and software levels, while on the other hand we pursue a comprehensive backup strategy that makes it possible to restore your data and applications within the shortest possible time in the event of a loss and thus maintain your ability to work. You can find an overview of Metracon's security measures here:
We see ourselves as part of a well thought-out overall strategy for your company, which takes into account both employee behaviour and infrastructure in order to reliably ward off cyberattacks or to keep the damage as low as possible. Since the investigation of past ransomware attacks by industry giants such as IBM, among others, shows that in most cases the malware entered the company due to human error or a lack of strategies for handling external data, we recommend developing your own approach that covers all security-relevant data points in your company. The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) offers a helpful starting point with explicit recommendations for companies:
National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC)
Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any further questions.
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