Business Need

A leading Indian bank with operations nationwide faced increasing regulatory pressure to demonstrate its cybersecurity preparedness. The bank’s customers were concerned about the security of their data, and the bank sought to assess its defenses against ransomware attacks proactively. The bank’s management sought to meet the criteria for services provided by the financial aggregator, our client, from a third-party CERT-IN-approved vendor:

• Meet regulatory requirements: The bank wanted to comply with the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) cybersecurity and data protection guidelines.
• Protect customer data: The bank wanted to ensure customer data confidentiality, integrity, and availability.
• Minimize business disruption: The bank aimed to minimize downtime and financial losses in the event of a ransomware attack.

Business Challenges

Concerned about its ability to withstand a ransomware attack, the organization sought to assess the real-world effectiveness of its cybersecurity measures. This revealed several critical challenges that needed to be addressed:

• Lack of practical testing: Despite having the security tools, the organization had never performed a simulated ransomware attack to validate their effectiveness under real-world conditions.
• Unverified effectiveness of security solutions: The organization had deployed multiple security measures, including endpoint protection, firewalls, and backup systems, but lacked concrete evidence that these solutions could effectively stop a real ransomware attack. There was uncertainty regarding the tools’ ability to detect ransomware behavior and prevent lateral movement.
• Uncertainty in detection and response: The security team’s ability to detect and respond quickly to ransomware activity was questioned.
• Inadequate backup validation: The organization was uncertain if its backup systems were robust enough to recover quickly from a ransomware attack without data loss.
• Lack of a coordinated incident response plan: Although the organization had a plan, it was never tested, and leadership had concerns about the team’s ability to execute it efficiently in an actual ransomware scenario.
• Vulnerability exploitation: Vulnerabilities that could be exploited by ransomware.
• Limited resources: The client’s cybersecurity team was lean and needed external expertise to conduct the simulation.
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Our Solution

To help the organization assess and strengthen its defenses against ransomware threats, NuSummit Cybersecurity designed a targeted and controlled evaluation strategy:

• The solution that NuSummit Cybersecurity proposed was to perform a Ransomware Readiness Security Assessment that was designed to simulate real-world scenarios in a controlled, non-disruptive environment.
• The Ransomware Readiness Security Assessment was performed at two different levels.
  • Ransomware simulation activity
  • Ransomware tabletop exercise
• As part of the ransomware simulation activity, the NuSummit team conducted ransomware attacks using industry-recognized tools within the client’s test environment to evaluate the organization’s endpoint security measures. This approach enabled NuSummit to safely mimic the behavior of real ransomware attacks without causing any harm or data loss.
• The goal was to test whether the client’s existing security solutions (such as antivirus, endpoint detection and response (EDR), and network defenses could detect, block, and respond to ransomware-like activity.
• As part of a ransomware tabletop exercise, the NuSummit Cybersecurity team reviewed the organization’s preparedness regarding people and processes to check and evaluate the incident response capabilities in an active ransomware attack. This involved discussions and practicing roles, responsibilities, and response actions for the key stakeholders from the teams in a controlled and collaborative setting. 
• The NuSummit team derived a ransomware simulation solution approach to perform the activity.

Business Impact

The ransomware readiness assessment provided the organization with a clear, evidence-based understanding of its vulnerabilities and response capabilities, including:

• The ransomware simulation successfully executed and encrypted the test systems, giving the organization a realistic view of its exposure to such attacks. As a result, the client gained critical visibility into existing security gaps and could take informed action to strengthen their defenses.
• The attack bypassed current endpoint defenses, confirming that the existing solutions required enhancement. Following NuSummit Cybersecurity’s detailed recommendations, the client improved their security configurations to detect and respond to ransomware-like activity more effectively.
• The simulation demonstrated that existing endpoint defenses were inadequate, allowing the attack to bypass them. The client implemented recommended security configurations to improve detection and response to ransomware-like activity.
• The simulation revealed procedural gaps in the incident response process. While some processes existed, they lacked automation and coordination, mainly due to the absence of a dedicated SOC team. Recommendations were made to enhance these processes and implement a dedicated Security Operations Center (SOC) team.
• It was observed that the organization’s email security and endpoint protection controls were insufficient, potentially allowing initial infection vectors like phishing emails or malicious attachments to succeed. The client strengthened these controls, reducing the risk of future attacks.

Project Differentiators

NuSummit Cybersecurity’s differentiated approach ensured the assessment was not only realistic and safe, but also delivered meaningful, actionable outcomes, including:

• Real-world simulation: Mimicked actual ransomware attacks in a controlled environment.
• Holistic approach: Validated technical, people, and process controls for comprehensive security enhancement.
• Non-disruptive and efficient: Conducted quickly and safely, without affecting live systems, and delivered fast and actionable insights that enabled the client to respond promptly to customer deadlines.
• Customized approach: Provided tailored recommendations based on the client’s specific infrastructure, regulatory requirements, and simulation findings.
• Collaborative approach: Worked closely with the client’s team, making the assessment more valuable and actionable.
• Actionable insights: Delivered fast and practical recommendations for quick remediation.

Conclusion

NuSummit Cybersecurity’s ransomware readiness assessment empowered the client to strengthen their defenses and improve resilience against ransomware attacks. By identifying security gaps and providing actionable recommendations, NuSummit Cybersecurity enabled the client to enhance their endpoint protection, incident response, and backup strategies, ensuring faster recovery and reduced risk.