Security News Expect ransomware to increasingly target back-up files, panelist warns

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Ransomware attacks could one day evolve to increasingly target back-up files, one of the few effective tools security professionals managers have to remediate an infection, according to a panelist at the RiskSec Toronto 2017 conference this week.

"They're probably going to trigger this so that you can't do a restore from your backups without... the encryption key," said Walt Williams, director of information security at Monotype Imaging Holdings. Williams spoke alongside fellow presenter Angus MacDonald, director of sales engineering at Trend Micro Canada, in a session focusing on how companies can effectively defend themselves against ransomware.

According to both speakers, a few basic steps – including diligent patching, installing properly configured anti-malware solutions, introducing intrusion prevention systems and strong IPS rules, and creating back-up files – can go a long way to halt or limiting the damage of most ransomware attacks.

And yet, some companies are still not adequately prepared for such threats, as illustrated by MacDonald, citing a Canadian hospital client of Trend Micro that recently fell victim to the May 2017 WannaCry ransomware campaign.

Full Article. Expect ransomware to increasingly target back-up files, panelist warns