How Does PAM Help Protect Against Ransomware Attacks?

According to data extracted from a Cybersecurity Ventures‘ survey, ransomware costs will reach $20 billion next year. The survey also predicts this type of cyberattack will target corporations every 11 seconds.

Ransomware consists of malware used by malicious agents to block their victims’ computers and then demand a ransom. This malware has evolved, going beyond encrypting data and causing the shutdown of operations in companies: ransomware such as Maze also causes the leak of sensitive information, endangering the credibility of a company and can generate great financial losses.

The good news is that it is possible to prevent this threat by using Privileged Access Management (PAM), and this is the subject of this article. Keep reading our text to the end and learn everything about it!

• How to Prevent Ransomware Attacks with PAM
• In this topic, we will show you how PAM helps prevent ransomware attacks. In practice, it allows to:
• Know and Manage Privileged Credentials
• Use Protection Strategies Based on Zero Trust
• Implement the Principle of Least Privilege
• Enhance Security in Remote Access
• Audit Actions Performed Through Privileged Credentials

Below, we explain each of these aspects in more detail:

Know and Manage Privileged Credentials

In various types of cyberattacks, hackers use compromised credentials, and ransomware is no different, after all, to run this malicious software one needs to have privileges.

For this reason, it is recommended to discover and manage privileged credentials through Privileged Access Management (PAM). This solution makes it possible to discover, integrate, manage, switch, and audit credentials, as well as eliminate credentials that are no longer in use.

The best PAM tool for the discovery and management of privileged credentials is PAM senhasegura, which has discovery features considered best-in-class by the PAM market.

Use Protection Strategies Based on Zero Trust

Deploying the Zero Trust-based network security model is also essential to prevent ransomware attacks.
This concept considers no user or device should be allowed to connect to IT systems and services without first being authenticated, according to the strategy ?never trust, always verify?.

In practice, the Zero Trust model works as an extremely effective protection, which verifies credentials continuously before granting access through methodologies such as Just in Time.

Just in Time is a technique that offers each user only the necessary access for the required time to perform their activities.With PAM, it is possible to ensure the granular definition of privileges through strategies based on Zero Trust, such as Just in Time. Forrester highlighted the access granularity of senhasegura in its Wave for PIM report.

Implement the Principle of Least Privilege

One of the ways to prevent most ransomware attacks is through the Principle of Least Privilege (POLP).
This strategy also limits the impact of ransomware that can be installed in your IT environment, preventing hackers from moving laterally and diminishing their ability to elevate privileges.

That is, if the malicious attacker steals a credential with limited access or without privileges, the losses will be much lower. In this sense, endpoint privilege management tools are essential features of Privileged Access Management platforms.

This is because the connection of endpoint devices such as IoT devices, smartphones, laptops, and tablets increases the attack surface, making it easier for malicious attackers to work.

senhasegura offers GO Endpoint Manager for Windows and Linux endpoint and workstation privilege management, which allows segregation for access to confidential information, isolating critical environments.

Enhance Security in Remote Access

Remote access is one of the major security vulnerabilities of companies in general. With it, employees and third-party suppliers do not always adhere to the security practices stipulated by the companies. We highlight the choice of weak or reused passwords or the use of the same password by a group of people among the main failures.

With Privileged Access Management, each user will only have access to resources indispensable to performing their tasks, thus reducing the attack surface, since administrators will be able to approve or deny access requests.

Through senhasegura Domum, secure remote access can be performed by employees and third parties with all senhasegura PAM remote session capabilities, providing Zero Trust-based access to corporate network devices without the need for a VPN.

Audit Actions Performed Through Privileged Credentials

Another capability of Privileged Access Management is to facilitate the audit of actions performed through privileged credentials, controlling risks such as improper access to these accounts.

senhasegura enables the implementation of stricter controls, which automate and centralize access to privileged credentials, protecting the IT infrastructure against data theft and compliance failures.
Through senhasegura PAM, it is possible to:

• Obtain automated control of privileged account policies, enabling continuous monitoring and adherence to audit requirements;
• Ensure full visibility of “who, when, and where”, as well as “what” happened during a session with privileged credentials;
• Issue simplified audit reports from a central audit data repository;
• Reduce operational costs and response time with ongoing audits.

About senhasegura

We are senhasegura, a company that integrates MT4 Tecnologia, a group founded in 2001 with a focus on digital security.

We are present in more than 50 countries, with a commitment to providing digital sovereignty and cybersecurity to our clients, granting control over actions and sensitive data and preventing information thefts and leaks.

To achieve this goal, we follow the lifecycle of privileged access management through machine automation, before, during, and after accesses. We also work for:

• Avoiding the interruption of activities of companies, which may impair their performance;
• Automatically auditing the use of privileges;
• Automatically auditing privileged actions in order to identify and avoid privilege abuses;
• Offering advanced Privileged Access Management solutions;
• Reducing cyber threats; and
• Keeping organizations in compliance with audit criteria and standards such as HIPAA, PCI DSS, ISO 27001, and Sarbanes-Oxley.

Conclusion

In this article, you saw that:

• Ransomware consists of malware used by malicious agents to block their victims’ computers;
• This malicious software can be countered by Privileged Access Management (PAM) tools;
• This tool allows one to know and manage privileged credentials, use protection strategies based on Zero Trust, implement the principle of least privilege, reinforce security in remote access, and audit actions performed through privileged credentials.

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