Ransomware protection: breaking the kill chain early

How a ransomware attack unfolds

• Initial access: via exposed remote access, unpatched systems at the perimeter or phishing.
• Spread: lateral movement, credential harvesting, privilege escalation.
• Data exfiltration: data is copied so attackers can also threaten to publish it.
• Encryption: only at the very end, often at night or over the weekend.

Close entry points

Many attacks start on systems nobody had on their radar: a forgotten VPN access, a test server, an unpatched gateway. Surface finds them, and Vuln prioritizes actively exploited vulnerabilities first.

Disrupt attack paths

Exposure shows how an attacker would get from the entry point to domain controllers, backups and crown jewels. Often a single fix in the right place – such as an over-privileged service account – is enough to close many paths at once.

Detect early, contain automatically

Detect recognizes typical patterns such as unusual sign-ins outside working hours or mass file access. Respond isolates affected systems within seconds and redirects attackers to honeypots – especially at night, when nobody can react right away.

Test your protection regularly

Whether detection and response will work when it counts is shown by Validate with controlled ransomware scenarios – including a check of whether backups would be reachable.