5 Methods to Enhance Alternate Server Safety

A ransomware assault can deliver your complete group to a halt. Many state-sponsored and financially motivated risk actors usually goal e mail servers, resembling Microsoft Alternate, to steal or encrypt confidential enterprise knowledge and delicate data, resembling PII, for ransom.

Not too long ago, FIN7—a extremely lively infamous ransomware group—was discovered concentrating on susceptible Alternate Server organizations primarily based on the their measurement, income, variety of workers, and many others. They used an auto-attack system known as Checkmarks and leveraged the SQL injection vulnerabilities to infiltrate the organizations’ community and steal or encrypt confidential enterprise knowledge.

On this article, we’ve shared 5 methods that may aid you to enhance your Alternate Server safety and defend your enterprise from such cyberattacks.

High 5 Methods to Enhance Alternate Server Safety

Following are the highest 5 methods to guard your Alternate group from varied threats and guarantee enterprise continuity.

1. Set up Alternate Server Updates

Putting in updates is likely one of the most crucial features of securing your Alternate group or e mail servers from varied on-line threats and ransomware assaults. By putting in the newest Alternate updates (as and once they arrive), you’ll be able to patch the vulnerabilities and safe your group from malicious assaults. It will aid you repair bugs and shut any open doorways that hackers might exploit to realize entry to your group’s community or knowledge. In addition to the Alternate Server, you have to additionally replace the Home windows Server OS and different software program as quickly as attainable.

2. Use an Alternate-Conscious Safety Software program

Malicious packages or virus intrusion can infect your Alternate e mail server and the messaging system. They might enter the system or community by means of unsolicited, spam emails, or focused and complicated phishing assaults.

Whereas Alternate Servers have built-in anti-spam safety to filter spam or phishing emails and a Home windows Defender instrument with anti-virus/malware safety, chances are you’ll take into account putting in further third occasion Alternate-aware safety software program in your server. It will aid you proactively scan and filter phishing or spam emails that will include malicious hyperlinks or attachments.

3. Inform and Educate Customers

Your workers or customers are the primary line of protection. Each worker in your group with e mail entry is a goal for attackers. Thus, it might be your strongest or weakest level in the case of securing the group’s community from on-line threats or knowledge theft.

Give you cybersecurity insurance policies and consciousness coaching packages for workers. Make these obligatory and part of the annual assessment. You should implement these insurance policies and set guidelines for web searching, social networks, emails, and cellular units. Additionally, take away entry to your community for any worker that leaves the group instantly.

By educating and coaching your workforce on cyber safety assaults and their affect on the group, you’ll be able to successfully cope with the threats and stop malicious assaults to a big extent.

4. Allow Multi-factor Authentication

Utilizing a weak or similar password at your work that has been used a number of occasions on different web sites or social media channels poses a critical risk to the group’s safety. Such passwords could be simply cracked with brute pressure or might leak if the web site is breached.

To make sure customers within the group don’t use weak passwords, implement a password coverage. The coverage ought to pressure customers in your group to create advanced passwords containing a mix of letters (uppercase + lowercase), numbers, and particular characters. It ought to forestall customers from utilizing a beforehand used password. Additional, the password must also be modified after 30-45 days.

As well as, allow multi-factor authentication (MFA) through one-time password (OTP) or authenticator apps for licensed entry. MFA assist prevents unauthorized entry to person accounts and mailboxes in Alternate Server even when the password is leaked in a breach or stolen through a phishing assault.

5. Allow RBAC for Entry Management

Use the Position-Based mostly Entry Management (RBAC) permission mannequin out there within the Microsoft Alternate Server to grant permissions to directors and customers. Based mostly on their duties or duties, you need to use the RBAC to grant the required permissions or roles quickly and revoke them as soon as the job or process is completed. As well as, it’s additionally necessary to audit the entry management to maintain a examine on person accounts with administrator or elevated privileges.

To be taught extra, discuss with the Microsoft documentation on the Position Based mostly Entry Management.

Closing Ideas

Sustaining enterprise continuity within the period of rising ransomware assaults is a problem. Although Microsoft often releases safety updates with hotfixes to patch Alternate Server vulnerabilities, you have to take further measures to additional strengthen the server safety. Step one is to acknowledge cyberattacks as they aren’t going away and embrace them in what you are promoting continuity plan. Along with the 5 methods we mentioned, it’s best to preserve a daily verified backup. Comply with the 3-2-1 backup rule and use Home windows Server Backup or any third-party Alternate-aware backup utility to create VSS-based backups.

You must also preserve an Alternate restoration software program, resembling Stellar Restore for Alternate, because it is useful when the backups aren’t out there, out of date, or fails to revive the information. The software program will help restore person mailboxes and different knowledge from compromised or failed Alternate servers and broken or corrupt database (.edb) information to PST. It’s also possible to export the recovered mailboxes and knowledge to Workplace 365 or one other dwell Alternate Server straight and guarantee enterprise continuity.

By Gary Bernstein