The Middle East and North Africa have accounted for 4.75 per cent and 1.75 per cent respectively of global ransomware threats, according to a new report released by Trend Micro, a global leader in cybersecurity solutions.

Trend Micro has blocked more than 100 million ransomware threats for their customers in the last six months alone, with 99 percent of threats blocked from email and web traffic, a company statement said.

Recognizing the growth and impact of ransomware, the company has taken a holistic approach to helping customers defend against ransomware, and is delivering:

•    Ransomware Readiness Assessment that helps businesses of all sizes understand vulnerabilities in their security posture, and provides concrete actions they can take

•    Ransomware Removal Tools that help both consumers and businesses that have been impacted by ransomware recover their data

•    Product Enhancements to bolster ransomware protection across four key layers of security, and provide enterprise-wide visibility of ransomware

“Ransomware threats are constantly evolving, and no business is immune. As security experts, we encourage everyone to download our free tools, and inform users on the preventive measures, and ways to tackle the situation when affected,” said Cherif Djerboua, regional tech leader, Trend Micro.

“We recommend organizations to raise awareness and train their employees regularly on these preventive measures, like backing up data, and what has to be done when they encounter ransomware in emails or compromised sites. This helps to avoid being the victim of ransomware, as paying the ransom money does not guarantee that you can recover your data. There have been numerous reports of attackers asking for another ransom following the initial payment,” he added.

Enterprise ransomware protection
There is no silver bullet when it comes to ransomware protection, Djerboua  noted, adding that it requires a holistic approach and Trend Micro delivers ransomware protection across four key layers:

•    Email: Trend Micro delivers deeper inspection than traditional email gateways for both on premise and cloud-based email, such as Microsoft Office 365. This detects and blocks spear phishing emails and attachments or URLs that carry ransomware – the most common way ransomware infects an organization.

•    Endpoint: Trend Micro delivers a full range of next-gen endpoint protection capabilities to detect and block ransomware, including the shielding of unpatched vulnerabilities, application control, and behaviour monitoring to keep an eye out for suspicious activity such as encryption of multiple files, with the ability to halt encryption in its tracks and isolate the infected endpoint.

•    Network: Trend Micro continually monitors all network traffic, all network ports and more than 100 network protocols to detect ransomware and advanced threats.

•    Server: Trend Micro protects servers, whether physical, virtual or in the cloud, with suspicious activity detection and prevention, vulnerability shielding to stop ransomware from exploiting known server software vulnerabilities and lateral movement detection to prevent ransomware from spreading to other servers.

Trend Micro delivers enhanced central visibility of how ransomware is impacting an organization – identifying ransomware delivered through email, malicious URLs, a network breach or server compromise. This enables incidents to be more rapidly investigated and resolved, as well as enables ransomware trends to be tracked over time so that an organization’s overall security posture can be improved.

Ransomware protection for small business

No size of business is immune to ransomware and that’s why Trend Micro’s small business solution, Worry-Free Services Advanced, delivers capabilities that protect against it:

•    Email: Trend Micro detects and blocks malicious emails, attachments and URLs with malware scanning, web reputation and sandbox malware analysis

•    Endpoint: Trend Micro provides endpoint protection that includes capabilities specific to ransomware such as behaviour monitoring to stop suspicious activity associated with ransomware such as the rapid encryption of multiple files

Worry-Free Services Advanced is designed specifically for small businesses as a cloud-based solution, with simple but powerful protection that minimizes day to day management.

Ransomware protection for home users

Trend Micro warns consumers ransomware can arrive on their computer from compromised websites, spammed emails, or wrapped in other malware, holding precious files and photos until the user pays a fee to the cybercriminals who hold them hostage. Ransom prices can reach $600 or more.

Trend Micro Security 10 customers are already protected against ransomware. If users suspect they have ransomware on their PC computer, Trend Micro can help, even if they are not a Trend Micro Security customer:  

•    Visit the Trend Micro Ransomware Support Center and download one of anti-ransomware tools.
•    Prevent future ransomware attacks with Trend Micro Security 10. – TradeArabia News Service