Want To Know How To Detect Ransomware? See Our Tips!

Ransomware attacks reflect the growing technology and reveal the increasing need for preventive actions to prevent intrusions and protect the integrity of corporate data and customers.

To improve this defense, the highest priority is prevention. Therefore, the IT manager must have the maximum expertise to identify and combat these malware attacks.

This article will learn about the top practices to identify such an attack. In addition, we will learn about Engineering’s cybersecurity solutions. Check out!

Table of Contents

What Is Ransomware?

Ransomware is malware that employs encryption to hold victim information as a ransom. The main objective is to hijack the victim’s critical data and encrypt it to prevent access to it. Among the best defense practices, we highlight:

performing data backup;
protection of backup settings;
implementation of security software;
encouraging safe navigation;
use of protected platforms and networks;
constant updating and information about new attacks;
staff awareness of security practices.

How Does Ransomware Work?

It is often designed to spread across networks and invade databases and file servers, thus quickly bringing an entire organization to a halt.

Why Is It Important To Protect Yourself?

Ransomware attacks pose a growing threat to businesses, generating billions of dollars in payments to cybercriminals and causing significant damage and expense to companies and government organizations.

How Does Ransomware Work?

Ransomware uses asymmetric encryption. This encryption uses a pair of keys to encrypt and decrypt a file. The attacker uniquely generates the public-private key pair for the victim, with the private key to decrypt files stored on the attacker’s server.

The attacker makes the private key available to the victim only after the ransom has been paid, although, as seen in recent ransomware campaigns, this is not always the case. Without access to the private key, it is nearly impossible to decrypt the files being held for ransom.

How To Detect Ransomware?

Using a complex set of evasion techniques makes it usually quite difficult to detect ransomware attacks by traditional antivirus. In this way, knowing techniques to see it before it infects your computer becomes essential knowledge.

Ransomware creators use military-grade encryption algorithms and pioneering social engineering tricks to take control of your computer system and encrypt all your data.

Ransomware can even shuffle your files so that you cannot distinguish which document is infected or not. Here are some of the best tips for identifying these attacks.

Identify The Signature-Based Attack

Signature-based ransomware detection compares a sample ransomware hash with known signatures. It provides fast static analysis of files in an environment.

Security platforms and antivirus software can capture data from an executable to determine how likely it is to be ransomware versus an authorized executable. Most antivirus software performs this step in a malware scan.

Identify The Attack Based On Behavior

When using behavior-based detection methods that examine abnormal activity against historical data, security professionals and tools look for indicators of compromise by comparing recent behavior to average behavioral baselines. See the top 4 tips.

Analyze File Extensions

Anomalous file system activities, such as hundreds of faulty file modifications or changed extensions, could mean ransomware trying to access them. Here are some of the extensions that may appear:

.encrypted;
.F**k Your Data;
.locked;
Encrypted file.

Also, there is likely to be an inability to access certain files. In this case, it is expected that ransomware encryption is at work in deleting, renaming or relocating data.

Check CPU Activity Increase

Increased CPU and disk activity for no apparent reason signals a possible ransomware attack. This attacker could be looking for, encrypting, and removing data files.

Assess For Suspicious Network Traffic

Another unwanted sign that can reveal the presence of ransomware on the system is suspicious network communications due to the interaction between the malware and the attackers’ command and control server.

Check API Calls

A fourth behavior-based method security teams can use is examining API calls. What commands are the files running? Is anyone suspicious? The answers may reveal a ransomware attack.

Identify The Deception-Based Attack

Tricking opponents is one more tip for you to detect possible ransomware activity. The creation of a honeypot is a practical example where the attacker is strategically attracted. From a response activity, there is likely an attack by this malware.

What To Do If Your System Is Hacked?

If your protection system is not strengthened, it could be that the network has been attacked by malware like this. In any case, it is necessary to act to alleviate or eliminate the problem as follows: