How MSPs Can Create a Ransomware Disaster Recovery Plan
Ransomware continues to be on the rise, with 66% of companies getting hit with an attack in 2022, which equates to a 13% increase over the previous year. Additionally, global ransomware damage costs have reached an average of over $4 million. These sobering numbers demonstrate how ransomware has become one of the largest cyber risks organizations face today.
Because ransomware is such a threat to organizations of all sizes, it is now, more than ever, critical to have a ransomware disaster recovery plan in place, especially if you’re an MSP responsible for protecting client data. Developing a comprehensive plan for all of your clients will minimize their data loss and system downtime in the event of an attack.
This article details the nuances of ransomware recovery plans and how they differ from traditional disaster recovery, and provides tips to help you create an effective strategy for your business and clients.
Ransomware Recovery vs Disaster Recovery
Disaster recovery is an organization’s ability to recover systems and processes after a disruptive event that negatively affects the business, either by interfering with or stopping business operations altogether. These types of events include cyber attacks, natural disasters, and human error.
Ransomware recovery is a specific subset of disaster recovery that applies specifically to ransomware attacks. The challenges faced in the wake of a ransomware attack are uniquely different from those after a natural disaster, and thus dictate a specialized response.
The three factors that separate ransomware recovery from standard disaster recovery are the nature of the treat, the incident response strategy, and the recovery goal.
Nature of the Threat
Unlike other disruptive events, like natural disasters and accidental deletion, ransomware attacks are driven by deliberate and malicious intent. They aim not only to disrupt normal operation, but also to exploit the company by locking them out of their systems and demanding payment (or a ransom) for a decryption key that will restore access to their data.
The other unique threat of ransomware is that these attacks are constantly evolving, rendering traditional DR plans (which tend to be more static in nature) potentially ineffective against the latest tactics.
Incident Response Strategy
Responding to a ransomware attack requires a specialized approach including:
- Detecting the threat
- Containing the attack to prevent the further spread of ransomware
- Deciding whether or not to pay the ransom
- Recovering the encrypted data
Often, the response strategy will also include a forensic analysis of the attack in order to understand the attack vector and patch vulnerabilities.
Unlike a traditional disaster recovery strategy, which is often a prescribed list of steps for recovery, a ransomware response strategy must be able to react to a variety of movie parts that not only limit the business disruption from the corrupted data, but also protects the company against further attacks.
Recovery Goal
The primary objective of a ransomware DR plan is to restore access to sensitive data as quickly as possible, without paying a ransom that could cost millions. A secondary, but equally important goal, is to ensure that recovered data is free of the malware that infected it in the first place. A ransomware recovery is only a good as the integrity of the data that is restored.
Why You Need a Separate Ransomware Recovery Plan
Considering the distinct challenges posed by a ransomware attack, it’s evident that a general DR plan is insufficient – ransomware is a unique adversary that requires its own tailored response strategy. This strategy should seamlessly integrate with overall business continuity plans, emphasizing rapid detection, isolation, and restoration.
Building a Strategy to Protect Against Ransomware Attacks
The best protection against ransomware is a blend of preventing the attack in the first place and being poised to respond in the wake of a successful attack. A comprehensive ransomware protection strategy weaves together prevention, detection, data backup, system recovery, and clear communication. Let’s dive deeper into these essential components:
Prevention and Avoidance
Avoiding a ransomware attack in the first place is the most fool-proof method of data protection.
While cyber awareness on the employees’ goes a long, your role as the MSP is to implement best practices to help your client prevent ransomware from infecting their systems. These key prevention techniques include:
Regular software updates – Keeping software up-to-date is the best way to keep ransomware attackers out of a system. Bad actors often exploit known vulnerabilities in outdated software, which can be easily fixed with the latest patches.
Multi-factor authentication (MFA) – Attackers will try to leverage poor password practices to compromise account. Implementing MFA for your clients adds another layer of security, making it harder for bad actors to gain unauthorized access.
Least privilege model – Giving every user access to every system just gives hackers more room to play and corrupt critical parts of a system. Assign users only the permissions they absolutely need to limit the potential damage an attacker can inflict by accessing a user’s account.
Detection and Response
If prevention methods aren’t able to stop the ransomware attack before it gets started, having a strong threat detection and incident response strategy in place is the next best step for protecting against the growing threat of ransomware. A good detection and response strategy should do the following.
Proactively monitor to detect attacks – For the best chances at full recovery from a cyber attack, having robust threat monitoring solutions (or even a dedicated security operations team) in place is crucial. Knowing as soon as possible when an attack happens can make the difference between an effective response and a total loss of data.
Designate dedicated response teams – A ransomware recovery plan should clearly lay out who is responsible for which actions. Make sure you know who is in charge of setting the plan into motion when a breach is detected, which team members are responsible for manning the recovery response team, and who should manage communications, both internally and externally.
Develop a containment plan – When an attack hits, swiftly isolating the affected systems and devices if paramount to preventing the spread of ransomware. Create a plan that dictates what steps to take to protect the rest of a system or network from being infected.
Define how to handle the ransom note – Outline the criteria for when (or if) paying the ransom is the right course of action. Make sure that your client understands the legal and cybersecurity ramifications before making any decisions about their data recovery processes.
Data Backup and Availability
Studies show that data backups are the quickest way to recover from a ransomware attack. Companies that regularly backup their data are often able to fully restore their systems within a week compared to those who do not.
A good backup plan will:
Maintain backups that are not continuously connected to the main network – Having air-gapped backups ensures that the ransomware cannot spread to the backup data and cause further corruption.
Provide immutable backups – Use systems that prevent data from being altered or deleted for a set period. Doing so preserves data integrity and prevents bad actors from corrupting the backup data as well.
Define SLAs like recovery point objective (RPO) and recovery time objective (RTO) – RPO is the is the maximum age that any file can be before its data is unusable (i.e., how often backups need to occur). On the other had, RTO is the longest time an element of the business can be unavailable before its loss becomes intolerable (i.e., how much downtime the company can handle before it becomes detrimental). Knowing these two critical pieces will make clarify your responsibility as the MSP when it comes to recovery times.
Define backup locations, frequency, and retention policies – Backups can never be a one-and-done process. To make sure that your clients are poised for recovery, you will need to define how often backups are happening, how long those backups will be retained in storage, and where exactly the backups will be kept (in a physical appliance, off-site in the cloud somewhere, or a hybrid approach that uses both).
System Recovery and Restoration
Recovering data and systems after a ransomware attack is a delicate process, requiring a balance between speed and precision. To provide quick and accurate recovery capabilities to their clients, MSPs should consider:
Tiered recovery options – In order to deliver on agreed upon recovery time objectives, establish a hierarchy for data and systems, based on their importance to business processes. Having tiered recovery options allows the quick restoration of essential functions to more granular recovery of less critical data.
Virtualization capabilities – Leveraging virtualization options (such as Axcient’s Virtual Office) provides near instant recovery by creating virtual machines to temporarily replace impacted systems. These capabilities enable organizations to resume normal operations while the recovery process works to restore primary systems.
Runbooks – Runbooks are a set of standardized procedures for completing repetitive processes. Having client-specific runbooks in place enables rapid recovery by providing a step-by-step guide that increases consistency and efficiency. Some disaster recovery solution providers also include runbooks as part of their VM failover options, to help stand up VMs quickly and avoid downtime.
Communications Protocol
Just as important as recovering systems and data is the communication plan. Having a clear plan in place can help reduce panic, maintain trust, and avoid reputational damage. There are three different audiences that should be addressed in a well-rounded communication plan.
Internal communication – Communicate internally with employees across all levels of the organization. This can help to reduce panic and ensure organizational cohesion. Ensure that all employees are informed about the situation, potential impacts, and any actions they need to take.
External communication – External communication is vital as well. Have a PR strategy in place for informing stakeholders, customers, partners, and even the media if necessary. A transparent approach helps maintain trust during challenging times.
Regulatory communication – Other bodies, such as relevant regulatory groups and insurance companies, should be informed of a ransomware attack and provided with information about the incident and the response. According to CISA, victims should also consider reporting the attack to federal law enforcement via IC3 or a Secret Service Field Office.
Testing and Maintaining a Ransomware Recovery Plan
Building a ransomware recovery strategy is only the first step. Its effectiveness is contingent on consistent testing and refinement. Conducting response exercises and performing regular audits ensures your plan remains up-to-date and responsive to evolving threats.
Response Exercises
Just as fire drill tests and reinforce evacuation procedures, response exercises validate and refine your ransomware recovery strategy.
Two common and effective ways to regularly test a disaster recovery plan are:
Tabletop exercises – Tabletop exercises utilize discussion-based sessions where leadership teams walk through various ransomware scenarios, using the disaster recovery plan as a guide. This allows the team visualize the response process, question assumptions, and identify potential choke points or gaps in the plan. Leadership gains clarity on roles, responsibilities, and decision-making protocols by mentally simulating an attack in a controlled environment.
Simulated attacks – Simulated attacks can be launched in a cyber range, allowing a recovery team to do hands-on testing of the technical aspects of the plan. These exercises simulate actual ransomware attacks in a controlled and isolated environment to evaluate detection capabilities, the effectiveness of backups, and the system restoration process.
Through these exercises, IT teams can pinpoint vulnerabilities, refine recovery procedures, and enhance the speed and efficiency of the response.
Auditing and Updating the Plan
Regularly conduct a comprehensive review of the entire strategy (via tabletop exercises, simulated attacks, or even a straightforward audit) to ensure it aligns with the current environment, business operations, and emerging threats. Regular audits will help you identify gaps, ensuring your strategy remains robust and comprehensive.
If gaps are identified, the plan should be updated to close those gaps.
Establish procedures to ensure every revision is distributed promptly to all relevant stakeholders. This guarantees that in the event of an attack, everyone is working from the most up-to-date information.
A ransomware disaster recovery strategy is a living document, demanding regular testing and updates to stay ahead of the ever-evolving cyber threat landscape. Through consistent validation exercises and proactive audits, you can ensure your business remains resilient and prepared, no matter the sophistication or intensity of the ransomware threat they face.
Conclusion
Ransomware is an ever-growing, ever-evolving threat that poses a threat to all organizations. The devastation a ransomware attack can wreak on a business, especially small businesses, MSPs need to be prepared to provide robust ransomware-specific disaster recovery services to keep their clients safe and protect from data loss.
The singular challenges posed by ransomware necessitate a specialized approach. From prevention and early detection to swift response and system restoration, every facet of the strategy must be fine-tuned to the unique demands of ransomware.
Every moment spent without a ransomware-focused disaster recovery plan is a gamble on your and your clients’ futures. It’s not just about being prepared—it’s about being ransomware-prepared.
Author
Related posts
How well could you sleep with reliable cloud-based backups and recovery?
Take a deep dive into Axcient’s proprietary, automated security features to see how we’re ensuring uninterrupted business continuity — no matter what:
