Kaspersky Lab (www.Kaspersky.co.za) has launched Kaspersky Anti-Ransomware Tool for Business – a free software that offers complementary security to protect corporate users from ransomware. To identify ransomware behaviour patterns and protect Windows-based endpoints, Kaspersky Anti-Ransomware Tool for Business leverages two groundbreaking technologies: Kaspersky Security Network and System Watcher [1]. System Watcher’s unique capabilities include the possibility to block and roll-back harmful changes.

Malicious programmes such as ransomware, that infect computers and encrypt critical corporate data, present a serious problem, especially for small businesses. According to Kaspersky Lab’s global IT Security Risks 2016 survey, nearly 42% of SMBs fell victim to ransomware in the last 12 months. 34% of these paid the ransom and one in five weren’t able to recover their data, even after the demands of cybercriminals were met. Kaspersky Lab research, based on Kaspersky Security Network statistics, also shows a huge surge in ransomware attacks on businesses: almost six-fold growth (http://APO.af/vwK5bc) (from 27 thousand in 2014-2015 to 158.6 thousand in 2015-2016).

While businesses are encouraged to utilise many additional protection technologies and approaches to achieve efficient security, Kaspersky Anti-Ransomware Tool for Business provides complementary security to those companies that do not have advanced Kaspersky Lab security solutions. Kaspersky Anti-Ransomware Tool for business is a fast, lightweight solution, able to solve one of the greatest security pain points that leads to financial losses for SMBs - ransomware, and in particular, its most dangerous form – Cryptomalware. Cryptomalware activity results in unrecoverable encryption of valuable business documents and forces businesses to pay a ransom to attackers to get their data back. To address this problem and protect Windows-based endpoints, Kaspersky Lab Anti-Ransomware Tool for Business combines two core technologies:

• Kaspersky Security Network, a cloud-based service dedicated to processing depersonalised cybersecurity-related data streams from millions of voluntary participants all over the world. With Kaspersky Security Network, delivery of Kaspersky Lab security intelligence happens in a matter of seconds, ensuring fast reaction times and maintaining high levels of protection.

• System Watcher is an advanced proactive security technology that scans all important system events, including the creation and modification of operating system files and configurations, programme execution and data exchange over the network. Events are recorded and analysed, and if there is evidence that a programme is performing malicious operations, those actions can be blocked and reversed, preventing further infection.

“In 2015 Kaspersky Lab’s solutions protected 443,920 users and corporate customers worldwide from crypto-ransomware, depriving cybercriminals of nearly $ 53 mln (http://APO.af/K40ghB) in illegal earnings. Our experts are monitoring the rising problem of cryptomalware and have developed this simple tool, available free of charge, to help combat the increasing threat of ransomware to business-critical assets. Small and medium sized companies do not usually have the profound security expertise required to evaluate or compare dozens of security tools on the market. Kaspersky Anti-Ransomware Tool for Business is compatible with third-party security solutions, and is a complementary measure against ransomware. We decided to distribute it free of charge to give companies the opportunity to evaluate the power of Kaspersky Lab technologies”, said Konstantin Voronkov, Head of Endpoint Product Management, Kaspersky Lab.

The free Kaspersky Anti-Ransomware Tool for Business is compatible with the third-party protection solutions installed on PCs and can serve as second opinion software for the most advanced crypto-ransomware protection. To download Kaspersky Anti-Ransomware Tool for Business, please visit https://go.Kaspersky.com/Anti-Ransomware-Tool.html.

As a complementary anti-ransomware solution, Kaspersky Anti-Ransomware Tool for Business provides core corporate users with advanced protection from ransomware. For organisations that demand the best protection for each network level, including security technologies to protect workstations, file servers and mobile devices from all types of malware and today’s sophisticated attacks, Kaspersky Lab recommends using specialised business solutions:

http://www.Kaspersky.com/business-security/small-to-medium-business.

If an organisation has had its data locked, it is worth checking whether it is possible to recover it by visiting the new online portal, No More Ransom (www.NoMoreRansom.org).

The No More Ransom project provides users with several decryption tools to help recover files that have been locked by some types of the ransomware, without having to pay the cybercriminals.