{"id":7931,"date":"2021-11-02T08:07:27","date_gmt":"2021-11-02T06:07:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tekmart.co.za\/t-blog\/?p=7931"},"modified":"2021-11-02T08:07:29","modified_gmt":"2021-11-02T06:07:29","slug":"how-can-ransomware-attack-cloud-storage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tekmart.co.za\/t-blog\/how-can-ransomware-attack-cloud-storage\/","title":{"rendered":"How can ransomware attack cloud storage?"},"content":{"rendered":"<span class=\"span-reading-time rt-reading-time\" style=\"display: block;\"><span class=\"rt-label rt-prefix\">Reading Time-approximately:<\/span> <span class=\"rt-time\"> 2<\/span> <span class=\"rt-label rt-postfix\">minutes<\/span><\/span>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>A ransomware attack on cloud storage can have catastrophic effects. Cloud storage is still online, which means it is susceptible to some cyberattacks, so users must be careful.<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.ttgtmedia.com\/rms\/onlineImages\/posey_brien.jpg\" alt=\"Brien Posey\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>By  <a href=\"https:\/\/www.techtarget.com\/contributor\/Brien-Posey\">Brien Posey<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ransomware has been a persistent threat to organizations of all sizes. As companies increasingly transition to cloud-based platforms, they must consider how ransomware can attack cloud storage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote\"><blockquote><p>There are many different types of cloud storage and\u00a0numerous cloud storage providers. In addition, individual providers often offer several different classes of cloud storage, including file, archive and object storage.<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>This discussion will refer to generic cloud storage. While some cloud providers may offer security mechanisms designed to combat ransomware, these capabilities are not completely effective, nor are they standard across all cloud providers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Consider the\u00a0nature of ransomware, which has existed for many years. Early on, ransomware was somewhat unsophisticated. If a user fell victim to a ransomware attack, the damage was often limited to the contents of the user&#8217;s hard disk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Over time, however, ransomware authors began to realize that high-value data was often stored on back-end servers, rather than solely on someone&#8217;s hard disk. As such,\u00a0ransomware evolved\u00a0to encrypt the contents of network shares. Some modern ransomware is even designed to attack specific applications.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>How ransomware works and how to stay safe<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Ultimately, there are two main pieces that determine the effectiveness of a ransomware attack on cloud storage. The first of these factors is the ransomware&#8217;s capabilities. All ransomware is not created equally &#8212; just as not all cloud storage is created equally. Some ransomware\u00a0variants are more effective\u00a0on cloud storage than others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-thumbnail\"><a href=\"https:\/\/tekmart.co.za\/t-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/steps-in-a-ransomware-incident-response-plan-infographic.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/tekmart.co.za\/t-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/steps-in-a-ransomware-incident-response-plan-infographic-150x150.png\" alt=\"steps in a ransomware incident response plan\" class=\"wp-image-7932\" srcset=\"https:\/\/tekmart.co.za\/t-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/steps-in-a-ransomware-incident-response-plan-infographic-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/tekmart.co.za\/t-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/steps-in-a-ransomware-incident-response-plan-infographic-120x120.png 120w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The other factor is the level of permissions that IT has granted to the user who inadvertently launched the attack. In general, ransomware can attack anything to which the user is connected and has access. If an end user&#8217;s computer has a network drive mapped to cloud storage, then a ransomware attack could presumably\u00a0encrypt any data on the cloud share\u00a0the user can access. In other words, the ransomware doesn&#8217;t care whether the data resides locally or remotely. Attackers simply design it to be as destructive as possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The best thing organizations can do to prevent ransomware from infecting cloud storage is to limit user permissions. Employees should not have access to anything that is not specifically required for them to do their jobs. Organizations should also implement malware protection on endpoints and enable any malware protection features that the cloud provider might offer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><span class=\"span-reading-time rt-reading-time\" style=\"display: block;\"><span class=\"rt-label rt-prefix\">Reading Time-approximately:<\/span> <span class=\"rt-time\"> 2<\/span> <span class=\"rt-label rt-postfix\">minutes<\/span><\/span>A ransomware attack on cloud storage can have catastrophic effects. Cloud storage is still online, which means it is susceptible to some cyberattacks, so users must be careful. By Brien Posey Ransomware has been a persistent threat to organizations of all sizes. As companies increasingly transition to cloud-based platforms, they must consider how ransomware can attack cloud storage. There are<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/tekmart.co.za\/t-blog\/how-can-ransomware-attack-cloud-storage\/\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":114,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38,49,150,334,326,307,35,8,4,30,54,3,184,147],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7931","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-best-practices-for-data-center-operations","category-cloud-computing","category-cloud-storage","category-cloud-storage-management-and-standards","category-cyber-insurance","category-cybersecurity-risk-assessment-and-management","category-data-center-facilities","category-data-center-hardware","category-datacenter-news","category-expert-advise-and-opinion","category-hackers-and-cybercrime-prevention","category-industry-news-and-expert-advise","category-msps-and-cybersecurity","category-security"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tekmart.co.za\/t-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7931","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tekmart.co.za\/t-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tekmart.co.za\/t-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tekmart.co.za\/t-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/114"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tekmart.co.za\/t-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7931"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tekmart.co.za\/t-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7931\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7933,"href":"https:\/\/tekmart.co.za\/t-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7931\/revisions\/7933"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tekmart.co.za\/t-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7931"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tekmart.co.za\/t-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7931"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tekmart.co.za\/t-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7931"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}