Small business owners are beginning to realize their insurance claim dollars are not enough to dig out from a ransomware attack. Cyber insurers now routinely require ransomware co-insurance – mandating that insureds share in paying a ransom payment. Indeed, given the recent massive spike in insureds being specifically targeted, price hardening and onerous underwriting requirements have been more the norm. While it still is too soon to turn in the towel on SMB cyber insurance, some of those allocated insurance premium dollars should instead be spent on bolstering security. Cyber insurance can serve a vital role in helping business owners deal with ransomware attacks, but standing alone will never be enough.
There is much that can be done to improve a small business owner’s risk profile and help avoid ransomware exploits. Some very basic steps include developing trusted partner relationships with vendors and knowing what law enforcement to call before an incident takes place; retaining a security expert to evaluate the current readiness profile; providing education and training of staff; and developing or updating a Business Continuity Plan.
To the extent a small business is not using a managed IT provider and is managing its own IT infrastructure – with our without outside help, full and incremental backups should be consistently performed like the company’s life depended on it; weak passwords of service accounts should be removed; system logs should be maintained and monitored; employee access to sensitive data and information limited; operating systems and applications routinely and timely patched with Windows 10 literally being thrown out the window; users with admin privileges evaluated to ensure passwords are strong and secure; system safeguards such as Windows Defender Credential Guard deployed; port connections monitored and unnecessary ones removed, etc., etc., etc. These protocols all have a common goal – harden security sufficiently so that the bear decides to run after the slower runner. If everyone ends up becoming a fast runner, the hungry bear will eventually tire of the chase and just eat something else for food.
On many levels, these basic safeguards are uniquely critical for many small business owners use their own personal accounts for business transactions and are at a greater risk of exposing themselves to identity fraud.
