Resilient, a security company owned by IBM, has released a Dynamic Playbooks for ransomware, the latest addition to Resilient's incident response platform. The new tool automates the process of incident response in real time, orchestrating the actions that organizations need to take to respond to cyberattacks.
Keeping IoT Data Safe
Ransomware is a particularly malicious form of cyberattack wherein user data is held hostage (encrypted) until a sum of money is paid to the attackers. And it's by no means an unlikely threat; according to a recent IBM study, a staggering 70 percent of U.S. businesses affected by ransomware have paid to resolve it, with over 50 percent paying more than $10,000 to regain access to their data.
With the vast quantity of data generated by the Internet of Things (IoT), much of it very sensitive, there's certainly no shortage of targets for cybercriminals. And there's no lack of motivation either, with IBM also finding that ransomware has earned data-nappers almost $1 billion this year alone.
All of this adds up to a very serious IoT security threat, and that’s where Dynamic Playbooks comes in. The tool works as an automatic first responder to security threats. Resilient gives an example of a doctor unknowingly opening an email attachment with ransomware, compromising their sensitive patient data. Dynamic Playbooks automatically takes on the initial triage steps and uses connected data to respond to the attack, notifying the relevant parties, such as an appropriate security analyst and the hospital’s legal team.
“Fast-moving, sophisticated threats like ransomware require new and actively adaptive response methods,” said Resilient CEO John Bruce. “Resilient's Dynamic Playbooks sets another new standard for agility, intelligence and sophistication in the battle to respond to and recover from today's complex cyberthreats.”
Being Proactive About IoT Security
If you honestly feel comfortable about the security of your company's data, you're in the minority, according to a Ponemon Institute Cyber Resilience study sponsored by Resilient. Only 32 percent of IT and security professionals believe their organization is highly resilient to cyberattacks like ransomware, which is down from 35 percent in 2015. And the average cost of a data breach is also on the rise, now estimated to be around $4 million per incident.
If that’s not enough of a wakeup call, the global study also found that “the likelihood of a material data breach involving 10,000 lost or stolen records in the next 24 months [is] 26 percent.” That’s over one in four. Needless to say, rolling the dice on those odds isn't a comfortable idea.
The key is to be proactive when it comes to cybersecurity, and that goes double if you possess any particularly sensitive data. Whether that means using tools like Resilient's Dynamic Playbooks, counting on the cloud for security or brushing up on the latest security techniques, if you don’t keep your guard up, you'll end up paying for it sooner or later.