BlackBerry launches new ransomware recovery solution

BlackBerry Limited has announced its next-generation BlackBerry Workspaces content collaboration platform, featuring a new ransomware recovery capability that allows organisations to quickly recover from cyberattacks.

Despite even the best precautions an organisation can take, ransomware attacks will still happen. Ransomware attacks were the most common type of malware in 2017 and it is projected that, by the end of 2019, a business will be hit by a ransomware attack every 14 seconds with the resulting damage costs predicted to reach US$11.5B annually.

BlackBerry’s new ransomware recovery feature helps organisations contain and limit the damage of ransomware attacks by freezing the accounts of affected users should their PC computers and synced files become infected. Most ransomware recovery solutions enforce a companywide rollback, meaning even users whose systems were not impacted may lose data.

With BlackBerry Workspaces, the administrator can check user logs to pinpoint exactly what workspaces, folders and files have been affected and selectively roll impacted files back to pre-attack versions and without restrictions on how far back it can recover. The ability to precisely remove just the infected files helps organisations avoid the loss of work and productivity that often come with system-wide recovery mechanisms.

“Beyond data loss, opportunity costs and reputational risks, downtime resulting from ransomware attacks can inflict real harm on customers in any industry, including healthcare or public safety, where the consequences of any delay can be catastrophic,” said Billy Ho, Executive Vice President of Enterprise Products, BlackBerry.

“Organisations need to have a strong culture of security to minimise the risk of an attack – something that our cybersecurity consulting team has been supporting for the last several years. And in a worst-case scenario, it’s critical that organisations also have a layered defence model in place and an enterprise technology stack that is designed with the inevitable breach in mind.”

The new ransomware recovery feature will be available in the BlackBerry Workspaces Collaborate and Secure Plus editions.