Comprehensive Ransomware Protection Products by Dragonchain

Cybersecurity threats affect every business in every industry. Inadequate security practices can have severe consequences for business operations and consumer safety. Dragonchain offers unique ways for businesses to take back control of their data and stay ahead of nefarious actors.

What is a Ransomware Attack?

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Assurance Agency (CISA) defines ransomware as, “...an ever-evolving form of malware designed to encrypt files on a device, rendering any files and the systems that rely on them unusable. Malicious actors then demand ransom in exchange for decryption.”

Typically, these malicious actors target weak spots in an organization’s security protocols to encrypt and steal sensitive information for personal gain or to disrupt operations. They lock businesses out of their files until they pay a ransom, at which time they give the business a key to access its data.

Who Perpetrates a Ransomware Attack?

According to a White House fact sheet titled: Ongoing Public U.S. Efforts to Counter Ransomware “...transnational criminal organizations are often the perpetrators of ransomware crimes.” However, this isn’t always the case. Anyone with coding knowledge can lodge a ransomware attack. The incidence of ransomware attacks has become so frequent that Malware-as-a-Service (MaaS) offers a way for non-coders to launch their own disruption campaigns. And some individuals just pay coders for using their ransomware.

Regardless of who is launching these attacks, malicious actors increasingly show that they are deliberately targeting specific organizations by conducting extensive reconnaissance, planning, and execution.

Who are the Victims of Ransomware Attacks?

The businesses, institutions, and organizations that serve as our critical infrastructure or are pivotal to our health and well-being are attacked most frequently. They include hospitals, banks, energy companies, schools, government offices, emergency services, transportation, and food companies. Although the larger companies, like FireEye and Colonial Pipeline, grab the biggest headlines, mid-market companies are continuously coming under attack.

Depending on the situation, the reasons for these attacks can include corporate espionage, nation-state spying and disruption, or simply to cause chaos for fun by an organization or individual.

Frequency and Costs of Ransomware Attacks

Nefarious actors are attracted to the growing amount of money lost due to ransomware attacks. What started in 1989 through the postal service has grown into a booming cyber industry with ransomware payments reaching over $400 million globally in 2020. The healthcare sector alone lost over $20 billion in revenue, lawsuits, and ransom payouts in 2020.

Although not all of the record-breaking 495M ransomware attempts in the first three quarters of 2021 were successful, the threat is extensive. Direct losses due to ransomware attacks are predicted to exceed $265 billion by 2031 with an attack taking place every 2 seconds.

To pay or not to pay?

An increasing trend starting to emerge in 2021 is the irreversible destruction of data held hostage. According to a report on the state of ransomware in 2021, only 8% of businesses recovered all of their data after paying the ransom and 29% of businesses recovered just half of their data after the ransom was paid.

Businesses are now stuck and question how best to handle these types of attacks. Do they pay the ransom and hope the nefarious actors return their data or do they restore operations on their own? Dragonchain will help businesses finally answer that question.

How Does a Ransomware Attack Occur?

Common ways ransomware can infiltrate businesses and organizations are:

Phishing emails - tricking users into opening up an attachment that allows the malicious program to take over the computer.
Software vulnerabilities
Remote desktop protocol (RDP) - compromising a network with stolen credentials to conduct a brute-force attack on a network.

What is being done to stop ransomware attacks?

Governments are starting to take action. The Biden Administration has tasked the private sector with fortifying its systems to protect against ransomware attacks. The Administration recently outlined four initiatives to reduce these threats.

Using every government office to disrupt ransomware actors.
Tasking the private sector with increasing its investment and focus on cyber defenses
Applying the same Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) controls to virtual currencies
Leveraging international cooperation to disrupt ransomware networks

Dragonchain’s Ransomware Protection Product Suite

A primary goal of Dragonchain is to secure business data. We take an architectural approach to security with advanced capabilities built into the core of the platform. Dragonchain uses a combination of data segregation, data mirroring, disaster recovery systems, and embedded quantum encryption to mitigate the risks of sensitive information being exposed or captured by unauthorized parties.

Data Segregation

A hybrid blockchain can mitigate risks associated with data breaches and nefarious actors. Sensitive data is secured at the Enterprise level and the business can selectively choose what data to distribute and to whom. This reduces the risks associated with exchanging unnecessary data. The sensitive data from every transaction remains with the business and is never exposed in any way. Instead, the proof of the data is sent for decentralized verification leaving the private and proprietary data secured by the Enterprise.

Unlike permissioned systems that make it hard to share data across networks or permissionless systems which can cause concerns for security, the hybrid blockchain system can seamlessly connect data between the two systems and allow users to selectively share portions of the data or business logic with a public blockchain without risking exposure of private business data.

This type of data segregation allows the system to be GDPR, CCPA, and HIPAA compatible and safeguards personal identifiable information (PII) from end to end.

Security is further strengthened with an interoperable hybrid blockchain platform as every decentralized node is its own blockchain and as such is exponentially more resilient to a 51% attack. To maliciously access data a nefarious actor would have to compromise the Enterprise’s blockchain, the entire network of independent distributed decentralized verification blockchains, and all public networks connected via Interchain (i.e. Bitcoin and Ethereum).

Data Mirroring and Disaster Recovery

Data backups are not a novel security measure. However, disaster recovery systems offer no assurances of accuracy or integrity without extensive manual processes. Data mirroring with Dragonchain provides immutable proof of the state of data at any point in time and allows an organization to automate data integrity verification and restoration. This allows a customizable approach to let the business have the assurance that their data is safe even if an attacker compromises their systems or requests a ransom to return or decrypt stolen system data.

Embedded Quantum encryption

With the use of quantum encryption and signing capabilities integrated at the core of our hybrid blockchain architecture, an Enterprise can secure their sensitive data with strong and efficient quantum-safe encryption at rest and in motion.

Protection of IoT Devices

According to RSA Security, attackers will increasingly use IoT devices to target users with ransomware. Dragonchain’s decentralized identity system, Factor, helps businesses protect the sensitive data being accessed by Internet of Things (IoT) devices or sensors as well as the device itself.

Factor breaks identity information into individual components that can be used to prove someone or something is as stated without releasing sensitive identifying information. The system is interoperable with any traditional or blockchain system or identity log and any IoT device through a RESTful API integration.

When applying Factor to individual IoT devices, the devices themselves can prove they are as stated and report if any changes have been made to the device. Businesses would be able to tell that the device is compromised and deny any communications to and from the device.

The GDPR and CCPA capable IoT protection system increases security, reduces access to sensitive data, and simplifies authentication.

Additionally, we offer a comprehensive system to identify and protect against insider threats such as sabotage, fraud, intellectual property theft, espionage, and other externally sourced manipulation of behavior.

Dragonchain Software Delivery Model

Dragonchain offers advanced protocols for securing the delivery of general software releases. Our model offers users the ability to independently verify that the software is verified and uncorrupted through decentralized timestamping with measurable proof.

Every participant or team responsible for the approval of a portion of a software release must cryptographically sign the release artifacts to allow the software to be rolled out or deployed by the end-user (i.e. business or consumer). Using Dragonchain technology, the device or deployer can verify the authenticity of the signing history and detect attacks or maliciously compromised software if present.

In an attempted “man-in-the-middle” attack, a nefarious actor would not be able to falsify the blockchain data to attack the device or network. The device would be able to recognize that the identity or other data is falsified and not accept new firmware or other data from that source.

Behavior Systems

Unique to Dragonchain is our use of advanced behavior system algorithms to address security and counter user fraud. We have pioneered the development of patterns and processes for businesses to incentivize human behavior to improve system security. Businesses can integrate behavior systems technology to combat organizational and team inefficiencies and improve data integrity. The technology is pivotal in motivating employees and partners to follow any number of processes to work towards a common goal such as security best practices.

The constant security threats to businesses show no signs of slowing down. And although more public and private organizations are taking measures to secure their systems we have a long way to go. Dragonchain’s patented interoperability and patented scalability can give businesses the ability and flexibility to implement these security protections without a complete overhaul of traditional business systems. Our ransomware protection products minimize downtime, save money, and mitigate the risks associated with security breaches.

Dragonchain ransomware protection products allow businesses to publicly declare that they will not pay a ransom. If nefarious actors proceed anyway, their attacks will prove fruitless as data is segregated and decentralized. Our products put businesses back in control of full data sets so they don’t have to pay a ransom for their own data. Contact us to fortify your business operations today!