BeyondTrust's identity security solutions provide a powerful, blended ransomware defense that help make your organization inhospitable to threats.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
"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
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.
“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
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.
“[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
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.
