How Ransomware Attack Happens

We have all heard the news about the Kaseya ransomware attack and its associated impact on businesses. Ransomware as a Service (RaaS) is on the rise as it has been proven to be a lucrative business for Cyber adversaries. This continues to drive the development of more sophisticated and repeatable threats. Statistically, more than 70% of companies targeted by ransomware attacks have been infected. This means that seven out of ten attacks got past existing Cybersecurity control. So what is the success factor for such attack magnitude and success rate? Its dynamic nature and increasing sophistication.

Ransomware attacks have multiple building blocks, which attackers can easily mutate to create endless variants. This is how ransomware easily evades legacy Antivirus and other Signature dependent solutions. The Next-Generation Endpoint Protection category is created seemingly to address this issue. However, it is still insufficient to protect against more Sophisticated attacks that use Exploit and Mis-use of legitimate executables such as Powershell, CURL.

Many organizations started looking at Endpoint Detection and Response. They hope to alleviate such a situation but only to find disappointment being limited by only Endpoint visibility while not doing much on Protection. The deployment of multiple agents may seem like a solution but in turn, introduces new performance and operation issues. This is due to the behavior of these agents.

Organizations have been trying to invest in Endpoint solutions in the past to protect themselves against such attacks. However, the statistics are showing otherwise. This is solid proof that it takes a Platform approach to address this. Thus, it is not just the Endpoint solutions but how all Security Solutions in one organization work together to provide a better and validated Security Posture.

6 Best Practices to Protect Against Ransomware:

Backup your files

The most effective way to handle ransomware attacks is to use the 3-2-1 backup rule: keep at least three separate versions of data on two different storage types with at least one offsite.

Patch / Protection against vulnerabilities

Reduce the vulnerabilities in operating systems, browsers, and other applications by regularly updating them.
Deploy Network and Endpoint solutions that can provide protection while waiting for patching Window.
Employ a solution that does not require CVE alone to protect against Vulnerability.

Educate end-users

Regularly train your employees on how to identify and avoid common ransomware pitfalls such as malvertisements, phishing emails, and etc.

Logically separate

Employing Zero Trust Networks Segmentation helps to contain and confine the damage in the event of a Ransomware outbreak so that it will not spread organizational-wide. Verify everything from Users, Application, Data, and Transactions.

Provide the least amount of privilege

Use robust access management to restrict unwarranted access and reduce the number of access points through which malware can enter your organization.

Use intrusion Prevention with Next-gen firewall

Next-Generation Firewall provides multi-layer defense against Ransomware and any other attack in a single platform. Providing a single, consistent view and control of Security Posture.

End to End Platform

Palo Alto Networks provides an End to End Platform. It integrates together to offer organizations a better Security Posture against Ransomware and any other threat. This is done through a combination of Palo Alto Networks Next-Generation Firewall. The firewall is an 8 years consecutive Leader in Gartner’s Enterprise Firewall Magic Quadrant, and Cortex XDR Endpoint is the leading solution in Detection & Response rated by Mitre ATT&CK.

The Single Pass Parallel Passthrough (SP3) Architecture allows organizations to seamlessly enable new Security Services. The Security Services is able to achieve better ROI and product longevity as the threat landscape changes. It’s also the only NGFW in the market that has built-in Machine Learning capabilities to provide protection against Patient Zero without relying on Signature. Besides, it has the fastest update time from Threat Intelligence (up to seconds). Most of the similar solutions still take minutes or days to deliver Security Updates.

Cortex XDR – Palo Alto Networks

Cortex XDR Agent takes a multi-method prevention approach against all attacks be it Malware or Exploit. It does not solely rely on Signature to provide protection, but rather uses Behaviour. For example, Exploit Technique and Malware Local Analysis. Its built-in APT capability allows it to share Threat Intelligence from Palo Alto Networks’ largest Threat Intelligence Database. Also, it’s Signal the deployed NGFW for a correlated update. This is typically a manual process for most Organizations that employ a silo solution in each area.

Ipenet Solutions provides End to End service for all our customers. We can start off by doing a Threat Assessment in your organization and provide a proposed solution architecture that can address the gap. We are also capable of giving you a Best Practice Assessment Report over time by partnering with Palo Alto Networks. This means to ensure your Security Posture can be validated and adhere to the best possible manner that adheres to Vendor, 3rd party Best Practice.

Jul 08,2025