"Data Vaccination" Could Be Universal Cure for Ransomware Attacks

ATLANTA - Aug. 3, 2021 - PRLog -- The world is well aware of the damage that can be caused by ransomware since this method of cyberattack has risen by nearly double in the past two years alone. Recent news has shown ransomware attacks shutting down major infrastructures, retailers, IT/software companies, and even hospitals.

In many of these cases, the victims chose to pay the ransom rather than suffer the downtime and data loss involved in fighting the attack. These payments have ranged from a few thousand dollars all the way up to millions of dollars, usually requested in the form of cryptocurrency.

Many wonder why these attacks are still being carried out successfully. While we know that it's easy to infiltrate a network and deliver the ransomware (usually through phishing emails), it's unclear to some why victims don't just restore their systems to a backed up version predating the infiltration and move on with their day.

"This is simple," says Letson Jackson, CEO of the cybersecurity company Noftek. "The backup method is commonly used to restore function of devices on the network, but it doesn't solve the problem of stolen data. In most cases where ransom payments are made, the threat isn't so much being locked out. The threat is having your data leaked or sold."

Jackson tells us that this data often includes private data, patient medical data, credit card information, trade secrets, or even government files. Many victims pay the ransom because allowing this type of information to leak to the public would be devastating.

Until now, there hasn't been a solution to this half of the problem. This is changing now that Atlanta-based Noftek is bringing a unique form of data protection to the U.S. market.

Noftek's Data Vaccination protocol installs quickly and painlessly into any network and creates a "safe zone" within which all files are meta-encrypted. (Unlike conventional encryption, there are no keys that can be stolen along with the data.)

Any file that leaves the safe zone is rendered useless. Such files can't be opened or edited. Even copy-pasting is restricted by the data vaccination system so that protected files can't be manually duplicated outside of the safe zone.

Essentially, this system makes all data stolen through ransomware attacks useless to the attacker. Without the ability to leak, sell, or manipulate said data, the hackers are stymied.

For more information about data vaccination through Noftek, please visit https://noftek.com/