Incident Response: How to act in the first hours of a ransomware attack
When faced with a data hijacking due to ransomware, every minute counts. Discover the key steps of computer incident response and disaster recovery.
Incident Response: How to act in the first hours of a ransomware attack
In the modern cyber threat landscape, the question is no longer if your organization will suffer a security attack, but when it will occur and how prepared it will be to respond. Among all cyber threats, ransomware is the most destructive and fastest attack, capable of completely paralyzing a company's operation in a matter of minutes.
Having a structured Incident Response protocol defines the difference between a short-term crisis and an irreversible operational loss.
The Golden Rule: Immediate Containment
When an employee or system administrator spots a ransomware ransom screen or notices that their files are changing to unknown extensions, the first two hours are crucial:
- Physical and Network Isolation: Immediately disconnect compromised machines from the corporate network. Do not restart them (turning off or restarting can erase valuable information from the RAM needed for forensic investigation), simply remove the network cable or turn off Wi-Fi.
- Disabling Compromised Accounts: Disables VPN and Active Directory access of the user or server that served as the entry point of the attack to prevent malware from gaining greater administration privileges.
- Preserve Backups: If you have backups in the cloud or hard drives connected to the network, physically disconnect them immediately to prevent malware from locating them and encrypting or deleting them.
Phases of the Incident Response Process (SANS / NIST)
The international cybersecurity standard divides incident management into six stages:
Proceso de Respuesta a Incidentes:
[1. Preparación] ➔ [2. Identificación] ➔ [3. Contención] ➔ [4. Erradicación] ➔ [5. Recuperación] ➔ [6. Lecciones Aprendidas]
- Identification: Determine which systems have been compromised, what type of ransomware it is, and the extent of the encryption.
- Containment: Prevent the attack from spreading laterally to other departments.
- Eradication: Clean the entire infrastructure of malware, eliminating silent Trojans that may allow attackers to re-enter.
- Recovery: Restore server operations progressively from clean, audited backups.
- Lessons Learned: Analyze what went wrong in the defenses and document the improvements necessary to prevent future events.
Has your network been compromised or do you need to define a defensive plan against computer crises? Regain operational control and minimize impact with our Incident Response team.
