Ransomware prevention or ransomware recovery: What is the difference? 

Ransomware prevention or ransomware recovery: What is the difference? 

Ransomware is a cyberspace attack where some hacker or attacker may hijack your systems. The only way to get your plans back up and running is by paying the attacker a ransom. This ransom may range from pure cash to digital currency. Nowadays, the digital currency has been running fast because of its feature of being untraceable. But if, as a business, you are supposed to work towards understanding what is to be done with these ransomware attacks, what would you do? Would you opt for prevention? Would you opt for recovery? What is it that you would want assistance in? To help you make that decision, in this blog, we bring you information and research regarding what would work best and why.

What is ransomware prevention?

Ransomware prevention is an accumulation of all the security best practices to avoid ransomware attacks.   

Having a ransomware defense in place helps an organization in saving the costs associated with ransomware attack, including damages, compromised sensitive information assets, disruption in operations, non-compliance, and the worst of all, a significant damage to reputation.   

For instance, the average ransom demanded by cyber criminals was $1.54 million in 2023.  

Let us explore some of the ransomware prevention best practices. 

What are some of the best practices for preventing ransomware attacks? 

There is no one best way to prevent ransomware attacks. However, there are ransomware prevention best practices that can significantly reduce the possibility of becoming a victim of a ransomware attack. Here are some of the best ways to stop ransomware: 

Deploy phishing defense measures

Seek assistance from cybersecurity experts to deploy anti-phishing solutions that are built around the idea of automatically detecting malicious software, links etc., and social engineering-based phishing attempts.  

Restrict and control access

Make Multi-factor Authentication a part of your organizational security, requiring everyone to use MFAs while logging in. It will prevent unauthorized access and reduce the possibility of account takeovers.  

Consider anti-ransomware security solutions 

There are dedicated security solutions tailored for dealing with ransomware, deploy the solution that works the best for your organizational needs. Seek the help of cybersecurity experts to monitor and manage the solution with the industry best practices. 

Identify awareness gaps on ransomware attacks and prevention best practices 

Your first line of defense is your people/ awareness plays a vital role against the cybercriminals trying to plot an attack.  

Take the help of experts to conduct an awareness assessment of different departments in your organization and conduct awareness sessions that can help bridge gaps in awareness on ransomware attacks and some of the best ways to avoid ransomware attacks. 

Make periodical backup part of your policy 

Periodical backups play a critical role in recovery and controlling the damage. Follow a 3-2-1 rule for backups that is revered as one of the industry best practices. As per the 3-2-1 rule, data should be stored in 3 copies in 2 different types of storage with at least one copy off the site.   

What is ransomware recovery?  

Ransomware recovery is all the measures, procedures, tools, techniques, and expertise deployed for responding to/ addressing a ransomware attack.  

A typical ransomware recovery plan would contain detailed steps of response and recovery against a ransomware attack. It comprises a detailed set of instructions to be performed in incident response, the roles and responsibilities of individuals across different levels, etc.   

What are the best practices for ransomware recovery? 

Let us assume that an organization has become a victim of ransomware attacks. Here are some of the response and recovery steps they take  -  

• Prevent ransomware from spreading by disconnecting the systems  
• Check the kind of ransomware used 
• Notify law enforcement and other agencies 
• Commence restoration from all the available backups unaffected by the attack 
• Update all the software  
• Review and reassess all the policies and measures as per the learnings from the attack after a detailed forensic analysis  
• Incorporate lessons learned from the attack into the incident response plan for proactively averting future incidents       

What is the difference between ransomware prevention and ransomware recovery? 

The effectiveness of a ransomware prevention plan can significantly impact the smoothness and effectiveness of the ransomware recovery. Therefore, it is critical to seek the help of cybersecurity experts to proactively draw a ransomware prevention plan.  

Ransomware Prevention	Ransomware Recovery
Proactive measure to secure organization against and prevent ransomware attacks	Reactive measure to recover from ransomware attack
It relies on cybersecurity expertise to devise a comprehensive ransomware prevention plan	It is highly reliant on the effectiveness of the ransomware prevention plan
Helps control damage and proactively take steps against the threat of ransomware	Helps with smooth resumption operations and recovering all the information assets