Can Biometrics Stop the Next Ransomware Attack?

James Stickland
Aug 24, 2017 · 3 min read

Victims of ransomware attacks know how harrowing the experience is. Beyond normal malware or data breaches, a ransomware attack doesn’t just steal your information, it locks you out of it, potentially forever. This very real threat has come up time and again over the last few years, with one of the most recent attacks — WannaCry — going even further and deleting victim’s data even after they paid the ransom. As this new kind of attack picks up in both frequency and severity, companies are scrambling to find a way to protect themselves and stop the next ransomware attack before it even starts.

In the search for improving security, there are a number of factors to consider regarding ransomware. How does the malware infect a system? What’s the delivery mechanism? And what types of systems are targeted? Typically, ransomware is delivered via phishing emails or backdoor vulnerabilities in unpatched software, such as older editions of Microsoft Windows or Adobe Flash. The ransomware then spreads and begins encrypting files, working quickly to compromise the system before getting caught, and then displaying the ransom message.

The trouble is that the security measures we can use for similar cyber threats aren’t quite as effective with ransomware. New ransomware often isn’t caught by malware detection, and the backdoor vulnerability exploits are unavoidable, unlike phishing emails that can be detected and ignored by the end user. The next logical step in stopping ransomware is to build security systems that stop the ransomware from being able to spread. This poses the question “can biometric authentication halt ransomware attacks?

In a simple answer, no. Biometrics aren’t a surefire way to stop a ransomware attack, much like passwords and other access control mechanisms. These tools work as gateways — lock and key solutions — for system access. Ransomware, in fact, most malware, doesn’t use the front door to infect a system.

However, biometrics do play a critical role in ransomware attacks. Specifically in protecting them.

The goal of a ransomware attack is either to make money or steal data. As more banks, healthcare providers, and enterprises deploy biometric authentication, the theft of stored fingerprint or facial recognition templates is likely to become a hot target for data thieves in the near future. Using ransomware to infect systems that use biometric authentication and steal the templates used for matching that are stored on them isn’t a far fetched idea, which is why we need to carefully consider how we are encrypting and storing that data.

For optimal security, biometric authentication systems should use a distributed data model, skipping past traditional key-based cryptography and utilizing visual cryptography to encrypt and break up biometric templates for secure storage across multiple locations. Rather than keeping all your eggs in one basket, you store them across devices and servers to eliminate the risk of the template being stolen when one system is attacked. While it won’t stop a ransomware attack, it does prevent highly-sensitive biometric data from being stolen during the event — putting you at least half a step ahead of the hackers.

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