Skip to Main Content
Needham Bank Logo
Locations
  • Personal Banking
  • Business Banking
  • Personal Credit Card
  • Business Credit Card
Customer Care Center: 781-444-2100
  • Contact Us
  • About
  • Community
  • Careers
  • Enroll in Online Banking
  • Personal Banking
  • Business Banking
  • Personal Credit Card
  • Business Credit Card
Enroll in Online Banking
Needham Bank Logo
Small Needham Bank Logo
  • Overview

    Checking

    • NB Debit Mastercard®
    • NB Money Management
    • Zelle® - Send and Receive Money

    Savings

    • Interest Rates
    • NB Statement Savings
    • NB Money Market
    • Personal CDs and IRAs

    Online & Mobile Banking

    Wealth Management

    Consumer Loans

    • Home Equity Line of Credit (HELOC)
    • Overdraft Protection Line of Credit
    • Personal Loans
    • Auto Loans

    Credit Cards

    • NB Rewards Mastercard®
    • NB Credit Advantage Mastercard®

    Residential Loans

    • First-Time Home Buyer Program
    • Fixed-Rate Mortgages
    • Adjustable Rate Mortgages
    • 40-Year Mortgage*
    • Community Loan Program
    • Construction-to-Permanent Mortgages
    • Home Equity Line of Credit (HELOC)
    • Jumbo Mortgages
    • Portfolio Loans
    • NB WealthBuilder Mortgage
    • Residential Loan Rates
    • Mortgage Calculators
    • Meet the Residential Lending Team

    Learn

    • Calculators & Tools
    • Knowledge Center
    • Fraud Prevention Tips

    Quickly open a Checking, Savings, CD or Money Market online in just 5 minutes. Open an Account Now

  • Overview

    Checking

    • NB Business Checking
    • NB Corporate Checking

    Savings

    • NB Business Money Market
    • NB Business CDs
    • Simplified Employee Pension (SEP) IRAs

    Credit Card

    • NB Business Rewards Mastercard®

    Online & Mobile Banking

    Cash Management

    Features include:

    • Cash Flow Management
    • Collections/Receivables
    • Disbursements/Payables
    • Fraud Prevention
    • Direct Connect for Quicken and Quickbooks

    Municipal Banking

    Wealth Management

    ZDeposit

    ZRent

    Commercial Banking

    • Commercial Real Estate Loans
    • Small Business
    • Middle Market
    • Structured Finance
    • Cannabis Banking
    • Meet our Commercial Team Leaders

    Learn

    • Business Resource Center
    • Business Banking Client Profiles
    • Knowledge Center
    • Fraud Prevention Tips

    Loans & Lines of Credit

    • Business Loans
    • Business Overdraft Protection
    • Construction Loans
    • Small Business Administration (SBA) Loans
    • Small Business Term Loan
    • Commercial Real Estate Loans
    • Paycheck Protection Program Loan Forgiveness

    Partner with Needham Bank experts who are invested in your success.

  • Knowledge Center
  • Client Resources

    • Client Resources
    • Avoid Overdraft Fees
    • Banking Holidays
    • Frequently Asked Questions
    • News
    • Reorder Checks
    • Schedule of Charges

    Account Support and Safety

    • Protect Your Accounts
    • Fraud Recovery Checklist
    • Protect Yourself from Popular Fraud Scams
    • Mailbox Fishing Scams
    • Fraud Prevention Articles

    Contact Us

    • Employee Directory
    • Find a Branch
    • General Inquiries
    • Loan Services
    • Online Banking Help
    • Send a Message

    Frequently Asked Questions

    • I lost my NB Debit Card but the bank is closed. Is there a number I can call?
    • What is Needham Bank's routing number?
    • How do I enroll in Online Banking?
    • How do I avoid overdraft fees?
  • Contact Us
  • About
  • Community
  • Careers
  • Enroll in Online Banking
Customer Care Center: 781-444-2100

Ransomware: An Updated Guide for Protecting Your Business

Posted on 2/14/2022

Ransomware is a threat to all industries, and there has been a significant increase in the number of ransomware attacks in the last few years with no sign of the problem slowing down.

In order to teach you how to keep your business secure, we contacted Ryan Barrett, Founder and CEO of ORAM Corporate Advisors, a company that works to streamline businesses’ technology systems to help them grow, to learn more. Barrett has spent the majority of his career consulting with organizations whose data is critical to their business, making him a cybersecurity expert.

Read Ryan's expert insights about ransomware and how you can protect your business.

What is Ransomware?

Ransomware is malicious malware that targets the private files of your business. While malware can cause some annoying problems or create more malicious issues such as reformatting a disk or deleting files, ransomware is different. Ransomware is malware that infects computers and restricts access to files, stopping businesses in their tracks.

When you run into ransomware, you will know it because it will notify a system’s user that it has been attacked. The notification will come after the damage has been done and your information is already encrypted. A cybercriminal will use the ransomware to demand a ransom, typically money or cryptocurrency such as bitcoin, in exchange for the safe return of an organization’s files. If the funds are not paid, the cybercriminal responsible may delete or publish your private business files online. If you do pay, you may not actually get your data back, as the hacker responsible can simply take the money and run.

Like a virus that can attack the body, ransomware can attack an entire business network. And like viruses, ransomware can morph and adapt from the way it spreads to the way it encrypts data. This means a business must approach protection on a multitude of fronts and be ready to adapt new protections as they are developed.

Means of Protection

Your IT provider should offer you protection in at least six areas. By securing a variety of entryways and providing layers of protection, your business will be safer from all threats including ransomware.

1. Patching

The most basic layer of security is to monitor and patch all computers and applications on an ongoing basis. This measure is the first step in protecting your operating system particularly when a flaw has been uncovered. 

2. Anti-Virus and Network Monitoring

Businesses are being targeted every day through a plethora of avenues: email, ad networks, mobile applications, etc. This is why these two pieces of the security puzzle examine all traffic on your business network and all files. Anti-virus monitoring employs a filter to protect your network from all known threats. Your anti-virus software should be updated regularly in order to identify the latest viral threats.

3. Backup and Disaster Recovery

One of the things cybercriminals bank on is that your business didn’t think ahead in terms of implementing backup and disaster recovery protocols. To ensure that your data is safe, it’s best to have a full system backup in place to protect your back-office systems. This will enable your business to stay on top of things if and when an attack occurs and it provides a recovery option for unknown threats. 

4. Endpoint Backup

Though backup and disaster recovery provide a layer of protection for your back-office systems, businesses should also have backup and recovery of data for all devices. Devices such as laptops and tablets create, share, and store business data. Should a device become lost or a cybercriminal captures your proprietary data and sensitive information from these devices, your business will still be covered. Your endpoint program should offer real-time data backup on such endpoint devices to prevent the compromise of business-critical information and keep your organization moving full-steam ahead.

5. Secure File Sync and Share

In today’s global society, being able to work remotely, collaboratively, and securely from any device anywhere is a modern business necessity. With the proper software in place, your employees can securely collaborate from any location on any device including their smartphones and tablets. Such software allows you to recover documents employees may have accidentally deleted or that have been lost due to malicious activity.

6. Education and Awareness

One of the best steps you can take in protecting your business against ransomware or other digital threats is to educate and train your employees. With proper cybersecurity awareness training, you can turn your employees into your most important layer of defense. By empowering your employees with such training, they can become proactive in the fight against cyber threats to your business.

While such protection may seem overwhelming, it’s nothing when compared with the downtime, stress, and financial cost of dealing with a ransomware attack. For more information about ransomware, read about ransomware trends here: https://www.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/ransomware-trends-2021.pdf

If you suspect that there has been fraudulent activity with your Needham Bank account(s), call us at 781-444-2100 as soon as possible.

To learn more about technology for your business and other scams to be aware of, read Ryan’s insights on ORAM Corporate Advisors’ blog here: https://www.oramca.com/blog/.

Similar Posts

10 Resolutions to Cybersecurity: How to Keep Your Online Information Safe 9/28/2020
Answers to Your Top 5 Questions About Cybersecurity With Ryan Barrett: Everything You Need to Know 10/1/2020

Knowledge Center

Category

  • All
  • Calculators
  • Borrowing
  • Fraud Prevention
  • Home Ownership
  • Managing Debt
  • Retirement & Wealth
  • Saving & Budgeting
  • Small Businesses
  • Students

PLEASE NOTE:

You are leaving the Needham Bank website. By clicking "Continue" below, you will enter a website created, operated, and maintained by a private business or organization. 

Needham Bank provides this link as a service to our website visitors. We are not responsible for the content, views, or privacy policies of this site. 

We take no responsibility for any products or services offered by this site, nor do we endorse or sponsor the information it contains. 

Continue to leave the Needham Bank site.
OR
Stay here to close this message.

  • Home
  • Locations
  • Contact us
  • About
  • Careers
  • Account Support & Safety
  • Privacy Policy
  • TERMS OF USE
Member FDIC Equal Housing Lender Member DIF
© 2023 All rights reserved. Powered by Getfused