Ransomware Protection Solutions | Defend Against Ransomware

What is Ransomware and How Does it Work?

Ransomware is malicious software that enables attackers to hold data or access ransom with the goal of demanding payment or reselling stolen assets. To execute ransomware, an operator must first gain a foothold in an environment via a security gap such as an unsecured port. They then escalate privileges until acquiring enough permissions to install malicious software, encrypt data, or continue to move laterally to expand the attack.

Common Ransomware Entry Points

Verizon’s 2025 Data Breach Investigation Report found ransomware present in 44% of the breaches, up from 32% the previous year. The Dragos 2025 OT/ICS Cybersecurity Report found that more than 50% of the ransomware incidents responded to in 2024 involved some type of remote service, such as a VPN appliance or remote desktop protocol (RDP) server.

These findings highlight some of the many ways that ransomware operators first gain entry into an environment. A few of these common entry points include:

Unsecured, open ports, such as internet-exposed Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP)

Gaps in other remote access technologies, such as VPNs, which are often poorly implemented and pose risks such as weak protocols

Human error, as attackers often use social engineering attacks like phishing emails with infected attachments or malicious links

These security gaps only continue to increase as digital transformation initiatives—from expanded cloud deployments and utilization to increased remote access—have massively increased the attack surface.

Why Privileges Matter in Ransomware Attacks

Once an attacker gains a foothold in an environment, they typically need some level of privileges to execute ransomware (e.g., install files or drivers, access registry keys), encrypt data, or move laterally to ‘land and expand.’

It’s often difficult to detect an attack as ransomware operators increasingly incorporate fileless malware techniques to stay hidden while they advance through an organization’s systems and network.

Boost Ransomware Protection with BeyondTrust

BeyondTrust’s identity security solutions break the ransomware attack chain at multiple points by exerting control over privileges, applications, and remote access pathways, and enforcing zero trust security principles.

Defend against client and server-side threats

BeyondTrust PAM solutions defend against the most common ransomware and malware attack vectors, including unsecured remote access pathways and privileged access. Our products also protect against sophisticated edge cases that leverage social engineering, macros, and other vulnerabilities.

Ransomware is not magic—it can only run with the privileges of the user or the application that launches it. Therein lies its weakness, and our chance to leverage tools to contain it before it starts.

G. Mark Hardy, CISSP, CISA President, National Security Corporation

Secure Remote Access to Block Ransomware Entry

Mitigate RDP, VNC, SSH, and VPN Risk

Traditional remote access methods, such as RDP, VPNs, and legacy remote desktop tools pose risks to today’s enterprises such as:

A lack of granular controls for enforcing least privilege

Numerous vulnerabilities and misconfigurations, making them ripe for exploitation

Heightened threats when remote access is extended to vendors

BeyondTrust Privileged Remote Access locks down remote access, applying least privilege and auditing controls to all remote access from employees, vendors, and service desks.

Consolidated Access Pathways

Broker all connections through a single access pathway, limiting internet-exposed ports, such as from RDP—the most common ransomware entry point

Role-Based Access

Implement fine-grained, role-based access to specific systems with defined session parameters, eliminating inappropriate privileged access.

Minimized Attack Surface

Reduce standing privileges and implement a just-in-time (JIT) access model to reduce threat windows.

Secure Vendor & User Access

Secure and audit vendor and internal remote privileged access without a VPN.

Credential Management

Manage the credentials used to initiate remote access sessions—never exposing the credential to the end user.

Complete Session Visibility

Gain comprehensive visibility across every remote session—with the ability to pinpoint and suspend or terminate suspicious sessions in real-time.

"BeyondTrust's solution has impacted our business by giving us peace of mind around the security of our customers' data and also giving us a very robust audit trail to ensure the integrity of that at all times, and allowing us to put in the appropriate safeguards to ensure we’re always in front of any potential security vulnerabilities."

—Shane Carden, CIO, Behavox

"In most cases, a high privileged account by default can do anything. And that's not something you can control if you rely on the application that contains the account itself. But using [BeyondTrust] PAM, we can control what the high privileged accounts can and cannot do."

—Osama M. Hijji, CISO, EFG Holding

Apply Granular Least Privilege Access

Stop Lateral Movement and Prevent Ransomware Spread

While ransomware is commonly delivered as independent malware, some strains leverage legitimate applications and macros, such as Microsoft Office, Adobe, and PowerShell.

BeyondTrust Endpoint Privilege Management stops ransomware and fileless (living of the land) attacks at the source by protecting rogue execution of these applications. It manages and secure privileges across all types of endpoints — desktops, servers, IoT, OT, and across Windows, macOS, Unix, and Linux.

Malware & Phishing Defenses

Prevent ransomware, malware, phishing, and other attacks by removing the admin rights needed by ransomware. Enforces least privilege for all users.

Threat Window Reduction

Enable just-in-time access, minimizing standing privileges and the window of time any privileges can be used or misused.

End-to-End Privilege Enforcement

Apply privilege enforcement rules to browsers, applications, and readers, blocking attack entry points and unwanted macros and embedded code execution.

Control Applications

Exert advanced application control beyond allow and block lists to ensure only authorized applications can start or call other applications.

Block Rogue Code

Prevent email attachments, phishing links, compromised websites, and untrusted DLL loads from delivering ransomware payloads.

Fileless Malware Protection

Defend against fileless malware and intelligently apply context to restrict high-risk applications (Wscript, CSript, PowerShell, etc.) used in attack chains.

“BeyondTrust Endpoint Privilege Management really is a perfect solution. Not only does it implement least privilege, protect, and monitor our privileged accounts, it also allows us to maintain compliance with several regulations, which is hugely beneficial to us.”

—Orwill Sebastian, Project Manager, Zensar

"BeyondTrust provides a powerful platform that allows us to streamline and standardize application control and privileged management across our entire organization. We have successfully deployed a comprehensive and comprehensible solution that protects Ramboll’s IT assets and empowers users to make informed decisions. Our people are smarter, better protected, and that’s great news for business.”

—Dan Bartlett, Senior Consultant, Ramboll

Protect Identities and Credentials from Ransomware

Eliminate Password Cracking, Reuse, Pass-the-Hash, and Other Identity and Credential-Based Attacks

Compromised credentials play a role in many ransomware attacks. That’s why it’s critical to properly secure the privileged credentials and secrets associated with human identities, non-human identities, and agentic AI agents.

BeyondTrust Password Safe manages privileged accounts, credentials, secrets, and sessions for people and machines and ensures complete control and security — all while enabling zero trust.

Account & Credential Insights

Discover, onboard, manage, and audit privileged accounts and credentials (passwords, secrets, etc.) for humans, machines, and AI.

Static Credential Prevention

Eliminate embedded and default credentials in scripts and applications used for automation and associated with machine identities.

Password Policy Enforcement

Enforce strong, consistent password policies to protect your organization from password re-use attacks and other password exploits.

Privileged Session Logging

Record interactive sessions for future playback, training, and identification of inappropriate activity.

Zero Standing Privileges

Enable just-in-time access to privileged accounts to eliminate the need for standing privileges and always-on privileged accounts.

Account Protection

Protect accounts from account hijacking, unwanted lateral movement, and privilege escalation

“[Password Safe] now provides comprehensive identity security capabilities across the company. Security has been further strengthened by bifurcating user access rights. This means that if access to one application is compromised, it does not allow an attacker to gain access to other applications. The result is higher resilience and greater protection of assets.”

—Mateen Sayyed, Regional Head of Identity & Access Management, Ninja Van Group

“Thanks to BeyondTrust’s Privileged Remote Access and Password Safe solutions, we now have industry-leading password and access management capabilities. This ensures our core systems remain protected but also readily accessible to those who require it.”

—Ian Melton, Head of Security & IT Operations, Autoleague

Talk to an Expert

FAQs

You will know that you have ransomware based on a few signs such as:

Inaccessible or altered files, with abnormal naming conventions or file extensions

Slower system performance, such as system freezes

Unauthorized access alerts

Unexpected software installs

Newly created privileged accounts

Endpoint modifications, including anomalous use of native OS tools

You can protect your organization from ransomware with security best practices that prevent the various ways in which ransomware is delivered and spread. These practices should include:

Prioritizing user education to minimize the success of social engineering attacks

Replacing or better protecting vulnerable remote access technologies (e.g., VPN), such as by patching vulnerabilities or implementing stronger security controls

Enforcing least privilege for executing applications and accessing data (including the removal of admin rights)

Protecting against credential compromise by managing privileged credentials with strong policies, session logging, and just-in-time access.

Ransomware spreads using privileges. Once an operator has a foothold in a system, they will then seek to obtain some level of privileged access to install ransomware files or drivers, access registry keys, encrypt data, or move laterally to ‘land and expand’.

Ransomware is increasing due to the expansion of cloud, multicloud, remote work, bring your own device (BYOD), and other digital transformation initiatives. Because of this quickly expanding sprawl of identities and data, attackers have a better chance at finding insecure entry points, exposed identities, and hidden privilege pathways that allow them to escalate privileges and move laterally. All of these factors make it far easier to execute ransomware without being detected.

Yes, cyber insurance policies can cover ransomware costs such as business interruptions, remediation, and legal expenses. The amount covered will vary based on individual policies and circumstances. However, because ransomware attacks are increasing, many cyber insurers have higher criteria for policyholders to even qualify for coverage at all. Some of these preemptive requirements include remote access security controls (e.g., multi-factor authentication), removing admin rights for users, and enforcing the principle of least privilege.

If your organization is impacted by a ransomware attack, you should consider the following next steps:

Implement Your Disaster Recovery Program: Limit the further spread of the ransomware and start your disaster recovery process.
Wipe and Reinstall Machines: Close any impacted machines, wipe them, and reinstall the OS and applications.
Recover Uncompromised Data: Use backup data from your last known “good” data set.
Apply a “Lessons Learned” Approach: Revise security procedures and staff training to stop these issues from happening again.
Identify Security Gaps to Better Prepare for the Future: Take measures to develop new organizational policies and deploy new solutions to increase your organization's cyber defenses.

A few classifications of ransomware include:

Crypto Malware or Encryptors - Block access to data and applications by encrypting files and devices.

Lockers - Completely block access to a computer system.

Scareware - Claims to identify other malware like viruses on your computer, and then demands money to remove them.

Doxware - Steals sensitive information from your computer and threatens to release it online.

Human-Operated Ransomware - Also known as “hands-on-keyboard,” are when cybercriminals actively navigate through targeted infrastructure.

Ransomware-as a-Service (RaaS) - refers to the practice of an attacker (the ‘owner’) paying a ransomware service operator (the ‘affiliate’) a subscription fee to use ready-packaged ransomware toolkits/malware. The payout is then split between owners and affiliates.

Watch Product Demos

Buyer's Guide for Complete PAM

Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for PAM

See what customer success looks like

Find a Partner

Leader in Privilege-Centric Identity Security

Ransomware Protection: Securing Identities, Access, & Endpoints