How to recover from AI-enhanced ransomware

Hey everyone, great news: The threat of ransomware is gone, it’s been completely eliminated!

Yeah, OK, not really. It’s just that I get a little depressed starting so many blog posts by reminding you that ransomware is bad and getting worse. But there’s no avoiding the truth, and the truth is that ransomware continues to have devastating effects on organizations all over the world.

Barracuda’s 2023 Ransomware Insights report is sobering. It shows that 73% of survey respondents suffered a successful ransomware attack in the previous 12 months — and more than half of those were struck more than once. For a deep dive into additional Barracuda research on ransomware, check out this blog post by our CTO Fleming Shi.

AI-enhanced ransomware is here

The exploding use of generative AI — used for everything from undergraduate essays to deep-fake videos to political speech-writing — has extended to ransomware tactics. Cybercriminals are always early adopters of new technology, so it’s not surprising that they’re already putting AI to use crafting more effective ways to infiltrate ransomware into your network. That’s a trend that’s just beginning, but it’s bound to have a profound effect on the success of ransomware attacks as we go forward.

The bottom line? Preventative measures are still critical, but we should all assume that we’re bound to get hit by ransomware eventually. And that means we need to understand how to recover quickly and effectively when it happens.

Expert insights on how to prepare

That’s why you should definitely plan to attend a major new webinar coming up soon, entitled “Learn to Defeat AI-Powered Ransomware Attacks: The Keys to Fast Recovery.”

At the webinar, a panel of experts including CTO Fleming Shi, Principal Product Marketing Manager Anastasia Hurley, and SOC Offensive Security Director Merium Khalid will provide a wealth of insights on what it takes to fully prepare your organization to respond effectively and rapidly when ransomware strikes.

Because there really are two kinds of organizations. Some, when hit by ransomware, take weeks or months to recover and suffer enormous costs in the process. But others are able to recover quickly and completely, returning to normal operations in a few days at most.

The keys to rapid recovery

The difference between the two kinds of organizations comes down to a few key steps, and you’ll learn all about them at this webinar.

• Develop and practice a comprehensive recovery plan — before there’s an incident. Ultimately each organization has its own culture and infrastructure, and that’s going to influence the specific response plan that works for you. But there are a few core guidelines that will give you a much greater chance of success.
• Enhance your team’s security and recovery expertise with XDR and/or SOC-as-a-Service. Just because you don’t have the security resources of a huge global enterprise — and even if you do — that doesn’t mean you can’t benefit from dedicated, state-of-the-art Extended Detection and Response strategies delivered by a third party.
• Choose a backup solution that has the features and capabilities needed to recover lost data quickly and easily. The right backup solution can be a huge help in ensuring you can shrug off a successful ransomware attack with minimal disruption. Find out what you should be looking for as you choose one to protect your precious data.

Ransomware is now a fact of life, and as it continues to evolve, we’ll all need to keep revisiting the best ways of fighting back against the crooks who use it. While you can’t change the facts of ransomware, you can make the right choices to ensure that it’s a minor inconvenience rather than a major catastrophe. Attend the webinar and find out how to make those choices.