Thursday, February 25, 2021
Corporate Compliance Insights
  • Home
  • About
    • About CCI
    • Writing for CCI
    • NEW: CCI Press – Book Publishing
    • Advertise With Us
  • Articles
    • See All Articles
    • NEW: COVID-Related
    • Compliance
    • Ethics
    • Risk
    • FCPA
    • Governance
    • Fraud
    • Internal Audit
    • HR Compliance
    • Cybersecurity
    • Data Privacy
    • Financial Services
    • Leadership and Career
  • Vendor News
  • Jobs
    • Compliance & Risk
    • Information Security
  • Events
    • Webinars & Events
    • Submit an Event
  • Downloads
    • eBooks
    • Whitepapers
  • Podcasts
  • Videos
  • Subscribe
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • About
    • About CCI
    • Writing for CCI
    • NEW: CCI Press – Book Publishing
    • Advertise With Us
  • Articles
    • See All Articles
    • NEW: COVID-Related
    • Compliance
    • Ethics
    • Risk
    • FCPA
    • Governance
    • Fraud
    • Internal Audit
    • HR Compliance
    • Cybersecurity
    • Data Privacy
    • Financial Services
    • Leadership and Career
  • Vendor News
  • Jobs
    • Compliance & Risk
    • Information Security
  • Events
    • Webinars & Events
    • Submit an Event
  • Downloads
    • eBooks
    • Whitepapers
  • Podcasts
  • Videos
  • Subscribe
No Result
View All Result
Corporate Compliance Insights
Home Data Privacy

Minimizing the Damage from a Ransomware Attack

The Case for Restricting User Permissions

by Darin Pendergraft
February 12, 2019
in Data Privacy
ransomware concept illustration with file folder on laptop secured with chain and padlock

The damage control for ransomware attacks exist already within every company… Darin Pendergraft discusses why organizations should adopt a “least privilege” access model.

The recent “Bashe attack: Global infection by contagious malware,” published by the CyRiM organization, should be required reading for all business executives. Using three possible scenarios (conservative, more aggressive and pervasive), it simulates a global malware attack to determine the overall business cost and follow-on insurance expense related to the resulting cleanup. Using these three scenarios, the report estimates the total economic loss as ranging from $85 billion to $194 billion worldwide across a variety of industries.

The report predicts the biggest losses for those industries most reliant on digital technology and interconnected systems, such as retail and financial services, but also predicts big losses for industries that are prone to using outdated IT systems, such as health care. The report clearly lays out assumptions for infection rates and related cleanup costs, which are largely based on historical evidence.

Dr. Trevor Maynard, Head of Innovation at Lloyd’s, cautions “…the reality for business is it’s not if you get attacked, but when.” Absolutely right! This is something IT security teams have been saying for years. Yet budgets for security always seem to be a low priority. So why aren’t company executives listening?

According to Andrew Mahony, Regional Director for Aon, “the global WannaCry and NotPetya events of 2017 alerted organizations to their potential susceptibility to widespread cyberattacks. There remains, however, a reluctance to move forward with the necessary risk prevention and transfer measures without a clear picture of the financial impact such an attack might cause.”

IT people often look at these attacks in terms of technology, architectures and code, which often is lost on business leaders. Putting these attacks in terms of risk, cost and liability reframes the security discussion in a way business leaders can get a handle on. So, now that we have the business leaders’ attention, what can we do to protect ourselves from these types of global, aggressive, business-crippling attacks?

One of the easiest things we can do is to rethink and reduce the permission levels we give to our employees. Here’s why: One of the critical assumptions made in the Bashe report is that an employee opens an infected email attachment, which launches malware smart enough to email a copy of itself to everyone in the employee’s email address book. In this way, a single employee infects everyone in the corporate email system and potentially hundreds of other users outside of the employee’s company.  The ransomware then begins encrypting files on all infected PCs, causing widespread business disruption. This is a reasonable assumption that we have seen in past malware and ransomware outbreaks.

The ransomware runs on the PC with the same security privileges as the user that opened the email. If that user has administrative privileges on their PC, so does the malware program. This allows it to download more files, install other malware and spread itself around. If, instead, we adopted a “least privilege” model that does not give the employee administrative control of their systems, the malware would be stopped in its tracks. The PC would still be infected and would need to be cleaned up, but the malware’s ability to spread itself to other company PCs and to encrypt files would be severely restricted.

Employees occasionally need to install software on their machines, and there are easy and safe ways to let them do that.  The IT help desk could temporarily elevate employees’ access levels, allowing them to install the needed software, then remove that access once the new software was installed and working properly.

I am optimistic that this report will get the attention of business leaders worldwide and will help them understand that the risk of widespread malware/ransomware is real, and that the possible business impact is considerable. Assume you will be breached, and build a response plan.

What would you do if your billing system were infected and had to be shut down? What about your email system? Could a single infected machine spread the infection to all of your business PCs?

Remember, it’s not if you will be attacked, it’s when! Companies that are prepared will fare the best.


Tags: cyber riskransomware
Previous Post

Inherently Risky (but Brilliant) Interactive Digital Marketing Strategies

Next Post

Fenergo Deploys On-Demand Regulatory Rules

Darin Pendergraft

Darin Pendergraft, Vice President of Product Marketing, STEALTHbits Technologies, is an experienced senior technology executive focused on data security and identity management who has led the product management and product marketing strategies and programs of top global technology brands.

Related Posts

finger breaking digital padlock

SOC 2 Compliance: Why You Should Care

February 19, 2021
side view of earth with network concept

A Boom in Privacy Regs Complicates Compliance

February 10, 2021
hand holding multicolored balloons outside

Happy Data Privacy Day!

January 28, 2021
COVID-19 tracking app showing location and infected people on blue background

Prioritizing Privacy During a Pandemic

January 4, 2021
Next Post
green on demand button

Fenergo Deploys On-Demand Regulatory Rules

Access realtime data
Addressing systemic racism in the workplace SAI Global
Dynamic Risk Assessments with Workiva
Top 10 Risk and Compliance Trends

Special Coverage

Special COVID page graphic

Jump to a Topic:

anti-corruption anti-money laundering/AML Artificial Intelligence/A.I. automation banks board of directors board risk oversight bribery CCPA/California Consumer Privacy Act Cloud Compliance communications management Coronavirus/COVID-19 corporate culture crisis management cyber crime cyber risk data analytics data breach data governance decision-making diversity DOJ due diligence fcpa enforcement actions financial crime GDPR GRC HIPAA information security KYC/know your customer machine learning monitoring ransomware regtech reputation risk risk assessment Sanctions SEC social media risk supply chain technology third party risk management tone at the top training whistleblowing
No Result
View All Result

Privacy Policy

Follow Us

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • RSS Feed

Category

  • CCI Press
  • Compliance
  • Compliance Podcasts
  • Cybersecurity
  • Data Privacy
  • eBooks
  • Ethics
  • FCPA
  • Featured
  • Financial Services
  • Fraud
  • Governance
  • GRC Vendor News
  • HR Compliance
  • Internal Audit
  • Leadership and Career
  • Opinion
  • Resource Library
  • Risk
  • Uncategorized
  • Videos
  • Webinars
  • Whitepapers

© 2019 Corporate Compliance Insights

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • About
  • Articles
  • Vendor News
  • Podcasts
  • Videos
  • Whitepapers
  • eBooks
  • Events
  • Jobs
  • Subscribe

© 2019 Corporate Compliance Insights