It’s easy to get your business any managed IT service provider and let them handle all your IT security for you but not all are willing to detail the steps that they will take to defend your business from cyber attacks.

Here’s an IntelliTeK checklist to effectively defending yourselves from ransomware:

Regular Backups – Cyber criminals bank on holding data to ransom which gives them the power for users to give in to the ransom demands. Having a backup of your important files keeps potential damage to a minimum and takes the leverage held by cyber criminals out of the equation. We implement backup strategies that ensures all critical data are kept in a secure location to allow the business to easily get back on its feet in case of data loss. Without going into too much detail, we generally have multiple backups at multiple locations and at regularly intervals – this gives the business peace of mind knowing that should they be breached, a very recent backup is just a click away from being restored.

Whitelisting – We implement a whitelist on your end points to block all unknown and unwanted applications. This is monitored every second of the day, with every click and every keyboard stroke. Behaviour monitoring keeps “anomalies” or unusual system activities at bay, while application control only allows a list of non-malicious routines, files, and processes to run on systems. This allows us to determine which apps or programs are allowed to function and operation within the business’ network.

Network Segmentation – We like to keep things organised here at IntelliTeK and this is the case from the ground up. We strategically group your IT assets so that all the data flow in and around your network is mapped out and labelled appropriately. This also prevents attacks from crippling the entire network. Segmenting user privileges and network traffic places an extra layer of protection on the business’ most important data. By compartmentalising areas of a network specific to a departments’ or a teams’ needs, any potential attacker will have limited access to resources, therefore curbing any form of infection. Using the least-privilege principle in assigning user profiles makes it more difficult for perpetrators to gain administrative rights.

Educate Users – Nowadays it’s not just about paying a managed IT service provider and simply thinking that attacks will occur. Attacks are strategic, well-planned and timely executed. The trigger is usually end user created – a click on an email link or a download from a website. It is 100% essential that users execute programs from trusted sources.

Program Updates – Updates usually comprise of actual product updates, bug fixes and security patches. Even though the request to update is usually frequent, it is highly recommended that they are performed on time and when prompted. Unpatched applications and servers are often exploited as an entryway for pushing malware such as ransomware into a system. We carefully scrutinize your patching processes to identify and eliminate roadblocks in the timely rollout of necessary patches and updates. Virtual patching protects vulnerable servers from any ransomware threat even if related patches have not been rolled out for all servers and endpoints.

IntelliTeK is a managed IT service provider based in Sydney, Australia. Utilising leading market products and services from the industry’s leading brands such as Microsoft, Trend Micro, WatchGuard and VMWare, IntelliTeK offer fully customisable managed IT packages to suit businesses of any size. Call us now on 1300 768 779 or email us an info@intellitek.com.au.