Meeting the Ransomware Challenge Report Meeting the Ransomware Challenge Report

The gap between perceived preparedness and the reality of a ransomware incident may be far wider than many think.

and how Microsoft's Power Platform empowers your team to create solutions for themselves and others using the tools already included in your M365 subscription (Power Apps, Power Automate and Power Virtual Agents).

Many see backups as a first line of response, when in reality a more comprehensive approach to security is necessary.

using SharePoint as your data source that enables data submittal and viewing. Then build a workflow with Power Automate to add an approval process to your app.

The value of specialized expertise in cybersecurity is evident, but finding and retaining security expertise is difficult.

by exporting it and importing it into your Microsoft tenant. We will also provide a QuickStart Guide for your team to reference as they build their first apps.

Use Case: Document Tracking & Approvals App

Today’s business is fueled with a myriad of documents with contributors across lines of business, making efficient document tracking and approvals a challenge felt by all ̶ and no better example of a document with lots of moving parts is the RFP. Here’s how we solved a complex document creation and approval process with Power Platform.

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Ransomware has become one of the most widespread and most serious cyberthreats facing organizations.

More than half (58%) of respondent organizations have increased their spending on services and technology for backups as a result of the ransomware threat, according to 451 Research’s Voice of the Enterprise: Storage, Data Management & Disaster Recovery 2022 survey. But backups are only part of the solution. A comprehensive strategy for countering the ransomware threat must embrace both proactive and responsive elements of security planning, deployment and operations to build resilience, thwart attempts, detect threats and mitigate their impact. Ransomware attacks are systematic, typically manifesting in a methodical sequence of reconnaissance, initial penetration, lateral movement, data exfiltration and encryption that ultimately results in extortion or payment. An underground economy, with specialists serving each aspect of an attack, has arisen to serve a market fueled by the lucrative financial payouts. To defeat this threat, defenders must show the same level of systematic consistency and expertise in their approach.

Meeting the Ransomware Challenge

451 Research explores the phases of ransomware attacks and the systematic approach that must be martialed to counter them effectively.

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Use Case: Development Request & Code Review App

It’s a common scenario for development managers, facilitating the needs of the business and end users while prioritizing development projects. Additionally, development projects can include multiple contributors, leading to chaos or, if done right, the success of a project, solution or feature that drives the business forward. Here’s how we helped our parent company, TDS, solve their development request and approval process with Power Platform.

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Power Apps

Quickly build professional-grade apps, create automated workflows, connect to diverse data sources, and embed dashboards into your apps when you use Power Apps with other Microsoft Power Platform solutions. LEARN MORE

Power Automate

Create more time for what’s important using robotic process automation (RPA) and digital process automation (DPA) across all your Power Platform projects. LEARN MORE

Power Virtual Agents

Increase productivity by easily building intelligent chatbots. Create bots that complete actions using Power Automate while integrating with data sources via hundreds of pre-built Microsoft Power Platform connectors. LEARN MORE

How Power Platform Solves Real Business Challenges

Here are some real use cases for how we used Power Platform to solve challenges in our business.

What Power Platform apps are included in my M365 subscription?

Download the full report where 451 Research explores:

As a Microsoft Gold Partner and a Microsoft Cloud Solution Provider (CSP), our support engineers have seen it all and are ready to work on your behalf with Microsoft should challenges arise. Our services include:

The required aspects of proactive hardening and effective response, and the vigilant intelligence essential to both. The role of security services in helping businesses meet the demands of a professional and systematic approach, by closing gaps in expertise that survey respondents consistently report is hard to find and retain, particularly for organizations not focused on cybersecurity as their primary business.

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2022 Pathfinder Report

Key Findings

Almost a third (31%) of 451 Research survey respondents believe that their existing endpoint security measures would interrupt a ransomware attack. About a quarter (24%) say their network security measures would do so.

But among those who had actually experienced a ransomware event, only 13% reported that their endpoint security measures had interrupted the attack, and only 8% said their network security defenses had done so. This indicates that the gap between perceived preparedness and the reality of a ransomware incident may be far wider than many think.

The value of backups, however, seems in line with reality: 34% of all respondents believe restoration from backups would be a primary aspect of response, and 40% of those who had sustained a ransomware event did, in fact, recover through backups.

What is concerning is the proportion who see backups as a first line of response, when a more comprehensive approach to security is necessary not only to thwart attacks, but to ensure the integrity, availability and resilience of backups to recover reliably from an incident.

The value of specialized expertise in cybersecurity is evident in the number of organizations turning to security service providers. Nearly twice as many 451 Research survey respondents in 2021 indicated managed security services in use compared to 2020. Meanwhile, less than half the percentage of respondents reported security services were “not in plan” in 2021 compared to the prior year.

However, this adoption of consistent and reliable security services reflects the ongoing difficulty organizations face in finding and retaining security expertise. Almost three-quarters (72%) of survey respondents in 2021 said that their information security staffing is somewhat to seriously inadequate.

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451 Research