We have all seen the worsening headlines about ransomware attacks. Statistics include:

• Attacks occur every 9 seconds

• The cost of falling victim exceeds $230K 

• More than half of the known attacks target midsize and small hospitals, government services, schools, food production, law firms, and manufacturing companies.

Ransomware has also become smarter, with new variants defeating endpoint security, exploiting VPNs, and compromising backup systems. The good news is that, as we learn more about ransomware attacks and how they work, we have learned that that indicators of compromise (IOCs) related to attacks can be discovered well ahead of the encryption stage.

Even if you are a small team, taking the five defensive actions described in this guide will significantly lower your risk of being attacked and reduce the cost of any potential losses if an attack does occur.