Unfortunately, malware, cyberattacks and ransomware attacks have only increased in recent years, with 1 in 5 small and medium sized businesses reporting that they’ve fallen victim to a ransomware attack. In particular, since COVID-19 and the rise of work from home, opportunities for cybercriminals have increased exponentially across North America. It’s crucial that businesses protect themselves and their employees online to avoid excessive time and resources being spent in response to a harmful cyberattack, and instead devote lesser time and resources proactively to prevent a cyberattack from occurring.

Verizon reports that 43% of cyber attacks target SMBs, while 71% of ransomware targets SMBs. Additionally, Datto Security reports that 20% of online attacks are successful against SMBs, with that number rising since COVID-19.

Ransomware is often implemented over email or download. Once a user clicks on a malicious link, an attack can be unsuspectingly launched – if network security and URL filtering aren’t in place. Attacks typically hunt for key data and folders, and disable backups and recovery mechanisms if anomaly or heuristic detection and prevention is not in place. From there, the ransomware establishes command and control to communicate back to the attacker and encrypts files. Finally, if segmentation to isolate systems is not in place, the ransomware will spread laterally to hunt for other connected networks to attack in a similar manner.

Cyberattacks typically enter the network either through malicious email, or malicious websites. Once a user clicks on a malicious attachment, URL or download, a network can be infiltrated. Cyberattacks typically either avoid an existing network security firewall, or use ‘drive by’ downloads to compromise a network. An existing security firewall can be avoided if there is no threat analysis of traffic, inadequate analysis of attached devices, or a lack of multi-factor authentication to block stolen credentials. ‘Drive by’ downloads can compromise a network if there are limited policy controls to control browsing, inadequate analysis of incoming traffic, or no firewall or VPN utilized.

Comwave developed our Network Security solution in partnership with Fortinet to provide the most advanced protection for SMB’s in the market. Comwave’s Network Security solution from Fortinet was ranked for the 10th year in a row as a Gartner magic quadrant leader, while Fortinet boasts the highest independent lab ratings in the industry. Its dynamic cloud security, built on the Fortinet platform directly within the Comwave network delivers only ‘clean’ traffic to your network with zero-trust etwork access, as every data packet is inspected. Additionally, AI-driven security operations ensure that the solution continues to learn and evolve from known and unknown threats. Comwave Network Security allows existing IT departments to control and fine-tune their unique network security, with Comwave proactively updating and managing the solution to ensure maxium protection.