Response to ransomware threats

Tech Reporter

Cyber security group Ricoh says it is helping businesses stop the costly effects of ransomware attacks. The group says its digital services portfolio helps organisations digitally transform their operations to align with their shifting strategic business objectives.

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Ricoh SA marketing executive Jolene Castelyn says ransomware is a huge global threat and is growing.

“There are hundreds of ransomware attacks in South Africa every day, as many as 12 000 across the country in the first half of 2021 alone. A significant element of digitalisation is the transformation of operational processes and the workflows that feed them. It is an ideal opportunity to bake in layered cybersecurity related to the target of every ransomware attack, the documents and the data,” Castelyn says.

Ricoh calls its solution RansomCare, released to markets abroad in March 2021 and available in South Africa from October this year. The solution monitors to detect known and unknown ransomware, responds to the threat by containing the malicious software, alerting administrators to take remedial action, and reporting to actively meet compliance requirements and continuous improvement.

“Rapid response is key, ransom- ware typically infects up to 10 000 files per minute once it gets inside the firewall and an unwitting user activates it. Informed recoveries ensure you work with impacted files only, which simplifies backup and restoration. Detailed reporting gives you the data you need to report to key stakeholders and data authorities,” Castelyn says. Castelyn adds that RansomCare, powered by Bullwall, monitors in near real-time and uses multiple detection tactics. “It instantly detects tell-tale ransomware signs; quarantines compromised devices, identifies encrypted files, restores them from backup and automates policy-based incident reporting. It is easy to deploy because it operates remotely, without being installed on every device, yet it creates no discernible network overhead. It integrates seamlessly into existing security and works alongside them to complement traditional cybersecurity services and make them stronger; and also has built-in alerting.”