What is enterprise anti-ransomware?

Enterprise anti-ransomware software was designed to safeguard user data as a response to the phenomenon of ransomware that is a serious threat as well as one of the most significant threats to cybersecurity today. But, it’s not a new type of threat since massive ransomware attacks first appeared three years ago. it took some time before the world recognized that ransomware was an emerging threat, distinct and more harmful than normal malware.

Naturally, many were expecting antivirus software to deal with this new threat just as it has occurred with all kinds of security threats throughout the past. But, it was quickly established that traditional antivirus products aren’t effective in stopping and detecting ransomware to an adequate degree. The anti-malware method of stopping malicious processes in a proactive manner is not effective with ransomware because it mimics the behavior of users very well. However ransomware is packaged in complicated software with features that are specifically designed to block antivirus technology such as Sandbox, Application Control, Heuristics and so on. Only signature-based detection is able to stop ransomware, but unfortunately, it does not perform against custom or new variants and needs constant updates.

In this sense there is a new, specialized anti-ransomware for enterprises software was developed to offer the protection of enterprises against ransomware. It detects ransomware in a reactive manner in response to the actions it performs on a system, but not in a proactive manner, prior to when it begins to execute. These are the major advantages of anti-ransomware products that are specialized:

The detection of ransomware and the reactions

The technique of reacting to detect ransomware provides a better detection system that can block new and customized ransomware variants and not rely on signatures and updates. However this method of behavioral analysis lets the ransomware execute in a way that some files might be encrypted by the time that the malware is shut down and is subsequently quarantined. Certain implementations also offer security of the Master Boot Record to protect against ransomware which tries to start up its own program. Also, detection methods which combine behavior analysis with honeypot detection methods that require the placement of decoys and monitoring them. Certain methods rely solely on the latter, however their effectiveness in stopping ransomware is not certain.

In addition to stopping and quarantining the ransomware’s malware and removing the ransomware payload, the anti-ransomware program can also allow IT administrators to handle the situation by shutting down the affected machine, informing the administrator and user, as well, and in some rare cases to isolate the affected machine away from network.

In most cases, the detection rate is much higher than that of conventional antivirus software and allows for a quick response to ransomware attacks that reduce the time it takes to recover data and downtime. If it comes to false positives, a lot of solutions are able to provide a reasonable rate, and in very rare instances it’s possible to keep a low percentage (next or one) in false positives.

Backup capabilities in real-time based on changes to files

Because the detection occurs within seconds or minutes after the ransomware has been executed, the technology should provide a method to retrieve the encrypted files prior to the time that the ransomware process shut down. Therefore, certain solutions incorporate the ability to backup in real-time to ensure that encrypted files are able to be recovered when the encryption process ceases.

There are many solutions for anti ransomware in the enterprise however, in general the strategy relies on analysing modifications to files and making copies of files that have been altered in a suspicious manner. Some applications rely on Windows shadow copy function to accomplish this, however there’s a significant danger when using this method because numerous ransomware families guarantee that data cannot be recovered this way.

File protection capabilities

In addition to detecting ransomware and restoring the affected data in the process of detection, some anti-ransomware products offer protection for files against ransomware by generating copies of user data to designated zones of the hard disk. This guarantees that, even if the ransomware targets the file, it is unable to access the protected zone , and consequently, cannot attack the copies that are protected. Technically , this allows data to be recovered in the event of ransomware attacks that succeed. The safe repository could be utilized by backup software to ensure that backups are encrypted.