We all now know that ransomware is, but many lack the understanding of how to prevent this type of software from carrying out its malicious activities that cripple IT operations or pose a threat to the confidentiality of sensitive information. Ransomware comes in two flavors.
1. When bad actors are able to gain access to sensitive information and exfiltrate that data for the purpose of blackmailing the target for money or other tangible assets.
2. When a bad actor uses any number of ways to deliver a software payload. When that software executable is initiated, target data is encrypted and cripples ongoing operations.
In the case of exfiltrating data for blackmailing purposes, a Zero Trust (ZT) strategy and architecture were created to address and mitigate this risk by encrypting the data and only giving access to the right person at the right time to the right data. This way, if bad actors sought to find and exfiltrate private and sensitive information, they wouldn’t be able to view any of the data in question as it’s encrypted. If they, in fact, exfiltrated the encrypted data, it could take up to years to brute force unencrypt said data.
On the other hand, delivering and executing a malicious software package continues to be the path of least resistance for these bad actors to wreak havoc and financially prosper. Many subscribe to the concept that if they have a Zero Trust Architecture (ZTA) in place, they are somehow immune to the ability of a malicious software payload having the ability to encrypt the encrypted.
