Four Steps To Mitigating Malware

Whilst we recognise that not all charities have crack teams of security architects at their disposal, we believe this guidance provides an achievable set of actions that most organisations will be able to implement. For this reason, the NCSC have also included additional and updated references to resources, which will help you prepare and respond to malware attacks.

Malware attacks, in particular those utilising ransomware, can be devastating for organisations because computer systems are no longer available to use, and in some cases, data may never be recovered. If recovery is possible, it can take several weeks, but your charities reputation could take a lot longer to recover. This can have drastic knock-on consequences for your organisation’s fundraising and public relations campaigns.

The updated guidance and steps listed below will help your charity deal with the effects of malware (which includes ransomware). It provides actions to help organisations prevent a malware infection, but if you’ve already been infected with malware, please refer to the NCSC’s list of urgent steps to take

The four main mitigation steps can be summarised as follows:

Step 1: Make regular backups

Up-to-date backups are the most effective way of recovering from a ransomware attack.

Step 2: Prevent malware from being delivered and spreading to devices

Reduce the likelihood of malicious content reaching your devices through a combination of:

• Filtering to only allow file types you would expect to receive
• Blocking websites that are known to be malicious
• Actively inspecting content
• Using signatures to block known malicious code
  
  
  

Step 3: Prevent malware from running on devices

A ’defence in depth’ approach assumes that malware will reach your devices.

You should therefore take steps to prevent malware from running.

Step 4: Prepare for an incident

Identify your critical assets and determine the impact to these if they were affected by a malware attack.

Following the updated guidance and steps listed above will decrease the likelihood of your charity becoming infected, reduce the spread of malware throughout your organisation and minimise the impact of the infection.

By following these four steps you will give your organisation the best possible chance of mitigating the effects of a malware or ransomware attack.