That’s because ransomware still poses a threat to businesses across the world, now in 2019, two years after its incipience. Does that mean there's nothing you can do to prevent ransomware attacks? The answer is, no. That’s because there are a few very simple things that you can do as an enterprise to prevent ransomware attacks. Here are the simplest yet the most effective ways of preventing ransomware attacks:

Training your employees on preventing ransomware attacks

As has been emphasized numerous times before, employees are an enterprise’s weakest link when it comes to cybersecurity. This is especially so against ransomware attacks, which begin with a phishing attempt targeted at unsuspecting employees. Regardless of how strong your cybersecurity systems are, a simple careless action by your employees, such as clicking on a spam link or downloading an attachment from an unknown sender, can make your enterprise vulnerable to not only ransomware but also other kinds of cyber attacks. Educating your employees on the best cybersecurity practices can steer them away from such behaviors and prevent ransomware attacks.

Installing and updating your antivirus and antispam systems

Having reliable antivirus and antispam tools can help stop malware as well as phishing attacks. As ransomware attacks keep evolving, it is vital to keep your antivirus programs up-to-date with the latest patches. Doing so will prevent harmful ransomware programs from stealing your data away or leaking it out.

Monitoring all incoming communications

While your antispam and antivirus tools can protect you from most phishing attempts and malware attacks, a well-planned ransomware attack using advanced tools can still penetrate your defenses and harm your network and data. To prevent such a situation you’ll have to deeply monitor every email communication that your organization receives. This means verifying the sender identity, scanning the email body and attachments, and all the embedded links that come with the message. While you can do all this manually with the help of your cybersecurity team, it will take a lot of time and resources, and slow down your business process.

To perform detailed analysis of all incoming communications without slowing down your business processes, you’ll need to use a contextually-intelligent firewall solution. A contextually-intelligent firewall solution can constantly monitor your enterprise networks, keeping bad actors out and thereby preventing ransomware attacks.