The first half of 2021 showed a 93% increase in the number of ransomware attacks compared to 2020 according to an article on ComputerWeekly.com citing the Check Points mid-year security report. The increase in ransomware isn’t just impacting financial institutions and large business, business of all sizes in all market areas including public schools and universities.
Is your business prepared for a ransomware attack? Are you sure? See how Citrix can help ensure that you and your data are protected on multiple levels from ransomware and other security threats.
Those of you that have been living under a rock or on a deserted island may ask what ransomware is exactly. Ransomware is malicious software that prevents your ability to utilize your computers or systems or prevents access to your files and data until you pay the ransom to get access back to your data.
Individuals and business of all sizes alike are at risk of a ransomeware attack. How much are all those family pictures or proprietary company data worth? Can your business handle the public relations or loss of your customer’s trust when you can not longer take care of them because you can’t get to your information.
Citrix is often thought of as a server and desktop virtualization company, and they are, but they are much more of an all around security solution as well.
Products such as Citrix ADC provide edge security and a secure connection back into your environment for access to data and remote access to desktops and applications.
Citrix ShareFile provides secure storage of your data for employees and customers in addition to e-signature capabilities for document signing. From the security standpoint, the versioning provided in ShareFile provides the ability to roll back to previous versions of files whether that were compromised due to an employee mistake or encrypted due to a ransomware attack.
Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops provide containerized access to applications and desktops. When utilized pooled non-persistent desktop the virtual machine is essentially wiped clean at each log off or shutdown. Therefore any malicious software, ransomware, or corruption is wiped out from the desktop as soon as the user logs off.
Citrix App Protection policies prevent screen scraping and key logging by malicious software. When a screenshot is attempted only a grey screen can be seen by the malicious software and key loggers only receive scrambled text thereby protecting your company’s data.
Other Citrix products like secure browser allow users to interact with website in a containerized hardened browser that is separate from your environment. Essentially preventing malicious content on the internet from gaining access to your environment.
Citrix Endpoint Protection provides management of endpoint devices such as tables and mobile devices while also providing a secure client for email and access to internal data.
The list above is only the tip of the iceberg of the security features built into Citrix products. Portions of your IT budget are going to have to be devoted to security. Citrix products can help stretch that money even further by offering security built in to products that help your employees be more productive and provide the remote or hybrid work solutions that employees and potential employees are demanding.
Providing your employees a secure and flexible way to remain productive helps ensure that your security policies remain in place. Employees are going to find a way to get their work done even if that means bypassing security that they deem to strict or make technology unusable.
To learn more about any of the Citrix products and solutions above or to find how to better utilize the Citrix products you already have, reach out to Xenwerx or another Citrix partner.