Ransomware remains a massive problem for organizations and governments. It is growing in sophistication, frequency, and money demanded in ransom. Fleming Shi, CTO, Barracuda Networks, discusses how AI and ML can help combat ransomware and three things security teams should look for in AI/ML-powered email security solutions. Ransomware continues to be a scourge for organizations worldwide, with the number of attacks increasing by 64% in 2021, according to one of our studies, heavily targeting municipalities, health care, education, and other businesses. These attacks can cripple day-to-day operations, sow chaos and result in financial losses from downtime, ransom payments, and recovery costs -- unbudgeted and unanticipated expenses that can bring down large organizations.

Human-operated ransomware attacks have threat actors using certain methods to get into your devices. They depend on hands-on-keyboard activities to get into your network. AI can protect you in the event of these and other attacks. Since the decisions are data-driven, you have a lower likelihood of falling victim to attacks. The decisions are based on extensive experimentation and research to improve effectiveness without altering customer experience.

Yes, security is hard – no one is ever 100 percent safe from the threats lurking out there. But how is it that time and time again, companies – big companies – are continuing to fall for ransomware attacks? Let's explore the main reasons why, starting with some basics before getting more in-depth: Two-factor authentication (2FA) is probably the easiest security improvement an organization can implement, and it's one of the most advocated-for solutions by infosec professionals. Despite this, we continue to see breaches like Colonial Pipeline occur because organizations have either failed to implement 2FA or have failed to *fully* implement it. Anything that requires a username and password to access should have 2FA enabled.