Secure Your Endpoints, Simplify Operations
Endpoints such as laptops and desktops are the primary entry points for ransomware attacks. Cybercriminals often exploit vulnerabilities in these devices through phishing emails, malicious downloads, or unpatched software to gain access to networks. Once an endpoint is compromised, ransomware can spread quickly, encrypting critical data and demanding a ransom. Due to the widespread use of endpoints in daily business operations, they remain a key target for attackers, making endpoint security a crucial component in preventing ransomware breaches.
As organizations grow and increasingly rely on third-party vendors and remote workforces, the risks associated with endpoints are escalating. Third-party access to company networks—often through personal devices or external systems—can introduce vulnerabilities that cybercriminals can exploit. With a larger, more diverse workforce, it becomes challenging to maintain consistent security across all endpoints, especially when third parties may not adhere to the same stringent security practices as the organization itself. This expanding attack surface heightens the risk of ransomware and other cyber threats, making third-party risk management essential for safeguarding sensitive data and systems.
The modern workforce is increasingly working from home driven by the flexibility and convenience remote work offers. 92% of organizations have employees who work from home at least some of the time [2]. This shift has transformed traditional office environments, with many organizations adopting hybrid or fully remote models. Employees now access company systems and data from various locations, using personal devices and home networks, which can introduce security challenges.
Securing endpoints is critical to a robust ransomware protection strategy, as endpoints are often the primary targets for ransomware to exploit. This cluttered landscape can make it challenging for businesses to identify the most effective tools for their specific needs, leading to confusion over which security measures to prioritize. Companies need to navigate decisions on endpoint protection, network monitoring, data backup, and incident response strategies, making it difficult to implement a comprehensive and integrated defense.
A layered approach to endpoint protection is essential to defend against a wide range of attack vectors, including phishing, credential harvesting, and software vulnerabilities. However, the endpoint protection market is highly fragmented, with numerous vendors offering a variety of solutions.
This report aims to address this problem by providing a holistic endpoint security strategy to prevent against ransomware.
Let’s dive into the ransomware stages and address them with relevant protection strategies
Attackers gather information about potential targets, assessing their vulnerabilities, and the value of their data. To effectively counter the reconnaissance stage of ransomware attacks, the solutions below must be implemented, each addressing specific aspects of the threat landscape. Here is how these solutions help mitigate risks during the reconnaissance phase:
Endpoint Privilege Management (EPM) | Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) | Firewalls | Patch Management |
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By enforcing the principle of least privilege, EPM limits user permissions, EPM only allows authorized personnel to run authorized applications without giving full admin rights making it harder for attackers to gather information about the network and its vulnerabilities. Users are only given access necessary for their tasks, reducing the potential points of entry for attackers. | EDR systems utilize behavioral analytics to identify unusual activities that may indicate reconnaissance efforts by attackers. Behavioral analysis may flag normal activities as malicious, leading to unnecessary investigations and resource allocation. Conversely, genuine threats may go undetected if they do not significantly deviate from established behavioral baselines. | Firewalls can monitor and control incoming and outgoing traffic, helping to detect unusual scanning or probing activities. By blocking suspicious IP addresses and restricting access to sensitive information, firewalls can hinder attackers’ reconnaissance efforts. | By ensuring that all software is up to date, organizations reduce the number of exploitable vulnerabilities available for attackers to discover during their reconnaissance efforts. Regular patching makes it more difficult for attackers to identify weak points in the system, as many known vulnerabilities will be addressed. |
Endpoint Privilege Management (EPM) | Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) |
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By enforcing the principle of least privilege, EPM limits user permissions, EPM only allows authorized personnel to run authorized applications without giving full admin rights making it harder for attackers to gather information about the network and its vulnerabilities. Users are only given access necessary for their tasks, reducing the potential points of entry for attackers. | EDR systems utilize behavioral analytics to identify unusual activities that may indicate reconnaissance efforts by attackers. Behavioral analysis may flag normal activities as malicious, leading to unnecessary investigations and resource allocation. Conversely, genuine threats may go undetected if they do not significantly deviate from established behavioral baselines. |
Firewalls | Patch Management |
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Firewalls can monitor and control incoming and outgoing traffic, helping to detect unusual scanning or probing activities. By blocking suspicious IP addresses and restricting access to sensitive information, firewalls can hinder attackers’ reconnaissance efforts. | By ensuring that all software is up to date, organizations reduce the number of exploitable vulnerabilities available for attackers to discover during their reconnaissance efforts. Regular patching makes it more difficult for attackers to identify weak points in the system, as many known vulnerabilities will be addressed. |
In this stage, attackers enter the target’s network through various methods such as phishing emails and exploiting software vulnerabilities. To effectively counter Initial Access stage of ransomware attacks, the solutions below must be implemented, each addressing specific aspects of the threat landscape. Here is how these solutions help mitigate risks during the Initial Access phase:
Endpoint Privilege Management (EPM) | Extended Detection and Response (XDR) | Sandboxing | Data loss prevention (DLP) |
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EPM restricts unauthorized applications from elevating by checking their SHA value and application signature, if the SHA value or application signature does not match the known good/correct values in the EPM system, it will not allow the application to elevate. This can prevent initial access methods like malicious software installations which typically require admin access. Known risky applications can be marked for ‘execution not allowed’/ ‘blacklist’ status. | XDRs can analyze incoming emails and attachments for malicious content, automatically blocking phishing attempts before they reach users. | Sandboxing can be used to analyze email attachments and links before they reach end-users. By executing these files in a controlled environment, organizations can identify malicious payloads without risking infection on their networks. | Preventing the uploading or downloading of sensitive information via USB devices or personal devices is essential. DLP solutions can monitor and restrict such activities to protect data integrity. |
Endpoint Privilege Management (EPM) | Extended Detection and Response (XDR) |
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EPM restricts unauthorized applications from elevating by checking their SHA value and application signature, if the SHA value or application signature does not match the known good/correct values in the EPM system, it will not allow the application to elevate. This can prevent initial access methods like malicious software installations which typically require admin access. Known risky applications can be marked for ‘execution not allowed’/ ‘blacklist’ status. | XDRs can analyze incoming emails and attachments for malicious content, automatically blocking phishing attempts before they reach users. |
Sandboxing | Data loss prevention (DLP) |
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Sandboxing can be used to analyze email attachments and links before they reach end-users. By executing these files in a controlled environment, organizations can identify malicious payloads without risking infection on their networks. | Preventing the uploading or downloading of sensitive information via USB devices or personal devices is essential. DLP solutions can monitor and restrict such activities to protect data integrity. |
After initial access, attackers establish a foothold within the network to maintain long-term access. This may involve creating backdoors. To effectively counter the persistence stage of a ransomware attack, the solutions below must be implemented each addressing specific aspects of the threat landscape. Here is how these solutions help mitigate risks during the persistence phase:
Endpoint Privilege Management (EPM) | Extended Detection and Response (XDR) |
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EPM, with its least privilege controls, reduces the attack surface of ransomware by limiting admin privileges across endpoints. When admin rights are taken away from the endpoint, the ransomware is isolated, it has no option but to stay on that endpoint or that particular account (which is not admin). Hence lateral movement becomes difficult for the attacker and the attack surface is reduced. | If an endpoint is compromised, EDR isolates the endpoint from the network to prevent attackers from establishing persistence or moving laterally within the environment. EDR isolation does not take away admin rights, once an endpoint is isolated, its connection with the network is cut off. While this is a good feature to contain the infection, false positives can isolate an endpoint for no reason causing frustration if there is a high criticality task going on an endpoint. |
Attackers explore the compromised network to identify valuable data and systems. This phase often involves lateral movement, where they navigate through the network to infect additional devices and escalate their privileges, often using stolen credentials. To effectively counter the Discovery and Lateral Movement stage of the ransomware attack the solutions below must be implemented each addressing specific aspects of the threat landscape. Here is how these solutions help mitigate risks during the Discovery and lateral movement phase:
Endpoint Privilege Management (EPM) | Extended Detection and Response (XDR) |
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EPM securely vaults administrator credentials with encryption, ensuring they are protected from unauthorized access. It also rotates administrator credentials. EPM logs can be sent to SIEM and XDR tools to analyze and act on. EPM enforces role-based access controls (RBAC) ensuring that users have only the privileges necessary for their roles. This minimizes the risk of attackers moving laterally within the network if they compromise a single endpoint because very few users in an organization will have admin access to applications required to run such scripts. | XDR tools include threat-hunting features that search for hidden threats within the network. By identifying indicators of attack (IOAs), XDR uses AI/ML and contextual analysis to determine if lateral movement is going on, it is reacting and detecting if lateral movement is on. Lateral movement happens at a fast pace at which it evolves, often within minutes or seconds. If XDR cannot quickly establish links between disjointed hosts or filter out noise, the scope of the attack can expand rapidly, causing widespread damage and encryption. There is an elevated level of human oversight required to correctly configure these tools since if organizations rely solely on these tools without human oversight, they risk missing sophisticated attacks that require internal network understanding or nuanced judgment based on experience within the organization. |
Before encrypting files, attackers may exfiltrate sensitive data to use as leverage during ransom negotiations. This can occur slowly over time to avoid detection. To effectively counter the Data Exfiltration stage of a ransomware attack, the solutions below must be implemented each addressing specific aspects of the threat landscape. Here is how these solutions help mitigate risks during the exfiltration phase.
Endpoint Privilege Management (EPM) | Extended Detection and Response (XDR) |
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EPM provides robust auditing capabilities that track privileged actions and access attempts. This visibility allows organizations to detect unusual activities indicative of data exfiltration attempts, enabling quicker responses to potential breaches. EPM can enforce time-based restrictions on admin access, limiting when sensitive data can be accessed or transferred. By implementing Role-Based Access Control (RBAC), EPM ensures that only designated content handlers, such as Notepad++, PowerShell, or other script-handling applications, cannot be elevated by unauthorized users. This restriction limits the ability of unauthorized applications to gain the necessary privileges for exfiltration activities. Consequently, even if an attacker manages to infiltrate the network, their ability to access and transfer sensitive data is severely constrained, reducing the risk of data breaches and unauthorized information sharing. | One of the primary functions of DLP is to monitor and control data transfers. DLP solutions can detect large-scale or unusual data transfers that may indicate exfiltration attempts and block these activities in real-time, preventing sensitive information from leaving the organization. |
The core objective of the ransomware attack is realized in this stage, where attackers encrypt files on the victim’s systems using strong encryption algorithms. This renders the files inaccessible without a decryption key To effectively counter the encryption stage of a ransomware attack, the solutions below must be implemented each addressing specific aspects of the threat landscape. Here is how these solutions help mitigate risks during the encryption phase:
Endpoint Privilege Management (EPM) | Extended Detection and Response (XDR) |
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By controlling who can install or modify software on endpoints, EPM can prevent unauthorized encryption of files by ransomware, as it limits the ability of malware to execute actions requiring elevated privileges. | Upon detecting encryption activities typical of ransomware, EDR can trigger automated alerts. Contrary to the word response, EDR does not help in stopping or reversing encryption once it has started. In cases where ransomware begins encrypting files quickly (e.g., some variants can encrypt thousands of files in minutes), an EDR that is not fast enough to detect and respond can result in extensive data loss before intervention occurs. |
After encryption, attackers typically leave a ransom note informing the victim of the attack and demanding payment for decryption keys. To effectively counter the Ransom note deployment stage of a ransomware attack, the solutions below must be implemented each addressing specific aspects of the threat landscape. Here is how these solutions help mitigate risks during the ransom note deployment phase:
Endpoint Privilege Management (EPM) |
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If ransomware does manage to encrypt files, having EPM can help limit the scope of damage by ensuring that only a small number of endpoints are compromised due to restricted access rights across the organization. |
The final stage involves assessing the impact of the attack on the victim’s operations and determining whether to negotiate for ransom or seek recovery options. To effectively counter the Impact assessment stage of a ransomware attack, the solutions below must be implemented each addressing specific aspects of the threat landscape. Here is how these solutions help mitigate risks during the Impact assessment phase:
Endpoint Privilege Management (EPM) | Extended Detection and Response (XDR) |
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EPM facilitates compliance with regulatory requirements by maintaining detailed logs of user activities and privilege escalations. This not only aids in understanding the impact of a ransomware attack but also helps in post-incident analysis and recovery efforts. | Post-incident analysis using XDR logs provides insights into how the attack unfolded, including which vulnerabilities were exploited and how attackers moved through the network. This information is crucial for refining incident response strategies and improving overall cybersecurity posture. |
Sectona’s Endpoint Privilege Management (EPM) solution focuses on protecting endpoints and users from cyber threats, minimizing the risk of compromising an organization’s IT infrastructure and reputation.
By controlling and monitoring user and application privileges, enforcing the least privilege model, preventing unauthorized privilege escalation, and enabling early detection of suspicious activities, EPM effectively prevents and contains attacks at the endpoint level. This proactive approach significantly reduces the risk of data breaches and ransomware incidents, allowing IT teams to focus on strategic initiatives rather than support tickets.
With compatibility across Windows and macOS, EPM empowers organizations to maintain strong security measures without compromising user productivity. By automating privilege management and ensuring that only trusted applications are permitted to run, EPM effectively minimizes the attack surface and fortifies overall cybersecurity defenses.
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