How to prevent your company infrastructure from being hacked

For organizations managing sensitive data or critical systems, it is essential to understand that ransomware attacks are becoming increasingly common and can affect anyone — from small businesses to large institutions. In the case of the Slovak Land Registry, the data was encrypted and attackers demanded ransom in seven-figure amounts. Despite assurances that the data remained uncompromised, the system outage caused extensive damage to both individuals and organizations.

This incident serves as a reminder that while cyber threats cannot be completely avoided, their risks can be significantly reduced through proper measures. To prevent similar situations, it is crucial to implement robust protection, effective data backups, and a solid disaster recovery plan.

In the following guide, we’ll go through the key steps that can help secure your company’s infrastructure and protect data from similar attacks. Let’s learn from the Slovak Land Registry case to improve our collective preparedness for cyber threats.

1. Keep control over access to your data

Access to data is the first and most critical point that must be secured. If access is open or poorly managed, your systems become an easy target for cybercriminals. Access security should be multi-layered and comprehensive, minimizing any potential vulnerabilities.

Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)

Multi-factor authentication is now a cornerstone of every security strategy. It means that a password alone is not sufficient to verify a user’s identity. Instead, the user must confirm their identity through an additional factor, such as:

• a one-time code sent via SMS or email,
• a biometric identifier (fingerprint or facial recognition),
• a hardware security token.

This step dramatically reduces the risk of unauthorized access, since even if an attacker obtains a password, they cannot bypass the second authentication factor.

Implementing the “Zero Trust Network Access” (ZTNA) model

MFA alone is not enough for complete security. It is recommended to adopt the Zero Trust concept, which assumes that no one — not even internal users — is automatically trusted. This model requires:

• Authentication of every access attempt: The identity of the user and the device they use is verified before access is granted.
• Authorization based on minimal privileges: Users can access only the data and applications necessary for their specific role.
• Continuous verification: Access is revalidated throughout the session, not just at login.

Zero Trust in practice

• Network segmentation: Divide the network into smaller segments, ensuring each segment has its own access rules.
• Device verification: Check that devices connecting to your network are trusted and secure (for example, via Endpoint Detection and Response – EDR).
• Monitoring and analytics: Use tools like Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) to monitor real-time activity and identify suspicious access attempts.

Why is this step important?

Hackers often exploit weak passwords, phishing attacks, or stolen credentials to gain access to systems. By combining MFA and Zero Trust, you significantly reduce the likelihood of a successful breach — strengthening both internal and external cybersecurity resilience.

2. Focus on Data Leak Prevention

Data leak prevention is a key part of every cybersecurity strategy. A data breach can cause serious reputational, financial, and legal damage, so it’s vital to implement multi-layered protection measures to safeguard information.

Monitoring and controlling data transfer

Data is often most vulnerable during transfer — whether between internal systems or outside the organization. Therefore, it’s essential to actively monitor all data-related activities.

The most common risk scenarios:

• Transferring sensitive data outside the organization: e.g., sending emails or uploading files to public cloud storage.
• Transferring data to external devices: such as USB drives, which can be lost or stolen.
• Unencrypted transmissions: which can be intercepted while traveling across the network.

The solution is to implement a robust Data Loss Prevention (DLP) system that actively monitors and controls these risks.

Data Loss Prevention (DLP) solutions

DLP technology is designed to identify, monitor, and protect sensitive data — wherever it resides — whether in the network, in the cloud, or on endpoint devices.

Key DLP features:

• Sensitive data identification: based on rules detecting personal data, trade secrets, or other confidential information.
• Unauthorized transfer prevention: automatically blocks suspicious attempts to send data through unapproved channels.
• Alerts and logging: DLP solutions notify administrators about unusual data-handling activity and keep detailed logs of such incidents.

DLP solutions can be implemented in three main areas:

1. Network DLP: protects data during transmission within the network.
2. Endpoint DLP: secures data on devices like laptops and workstations.
3. Cloud DLP: monitors and controls data stored and transmitted in cloud services.

Data encryption

Data encryption adds another layer of protection, ensuring that even if data is stolen, it remains unreadable.

Key encryption measures:

• Encrypt data at rest: data stored on servers, workstations, or external drives should be protected using encryption algorithms.
• Encrypt data in transit: use protocols such as TLS or VPN to encrypt communication between users, systems, and cloud applications.

Why is this step important?
A data breach can lead to:

• Legal consequences: violating GDPR or similar regulations can result in high fines.
• Reputational damage: disclosure of sensitive information undermines client and partner trust.
• Financial losses: data loss can disrupt daily operations and cause significant monetary harm.

Implementing DLP systems and encryption is crucial to minimizing the risk of data leaks and protecting your organization’s critical information.

3. Detect threats before they strike

Cyberattacks are becoming increasingly sophisticated, making it essential to have mechanisms that can identify threats before they cause damage. Modern tools can detect and neutralize attacks in their early stages, preventing large-scale disruptions and data breaches.

Endpoint protection with EDR (Endpoint Detection and Response)

Endpoints — laptops, desktops, and mobile devices — are often the first targets of attackers. EDR solutions provide advanced protection by:

• monitoring device behavior in real time,
• detecting suspicious activities such as unauthorized access or attempts to run malicious code,
• allowing immediate attack containment at the device level.

Practical EDR features:

1. Anomaly detection: automatically identifies unusual behavior, such as unexpected data transfers or manipulation of critical files.
2. Real-time response: isolates infected devices to prevent the attack from spreading.
3. Data collection and analysis: enables detailed investigation of incidents and helps improve security measures.

Threat monitoring with SIEM (Security Information and Event Management)

For organizations managing sensitive data and infrastructure — such as land registries or government institutions — SIEM is one of the most critical tools for attack prevention. SIEM centralizes monitoring of all security events across the entire infrastructure, providing a unified view of the organization’s security posture.

Key benefits of SIEM:

• Data consolidation: collects information from various sources (firewalls, servers, applications, and networks) in one place.
• Real-time detection: identifies suspicious activities using predefined rules and automated analysis.
• Automated response: enables immediate countermeasures, such as blocking access or running specific security scripts.
• Historical analysis: stores event records, allowing investigation of past incidents and optimization of security processes.

Combining EDR and SIEM in practice

The integration of EDR and SIEM provides:

• Comprehensive protection: EDR secures endpoints, while SIEM offers visibility across the entire infrastructure.
• Rapid detection: SIEM detects threats in real time, and EDR allows immediate device-level response.
• Proactive defense: these tools not only react to incidents but also identify vulnerabilities before they’re exploited.

Why is this step important?

Attackers often infiltrate systems and quietly explore the organization’s infrastructure before launching a full attack. The ability to detect threats early can prevent severe consequences such as:

• encryption of critical data,
• leakage of sensitive information,
• long-term system downtime.

Deploying EDR and SIEM solutions allows organizations to take a proactive security stance and respond swiftly to any attempt to compromise their systems.

4. Protect against ransomware and malware attacks

Ransomware and malware attacks are among the most common threats in the cyber world. The attack that crippled the Land Registry serves as a stark warning of how devastating these types of attacks can be. However, there are effective — and surprisingly simple — ways to protect your organization.

Use advanced firewalls

Firewalls are a fundamental part of cybersecurity, blocking unauthorized access to your network. Modern Next-Generation Firewalls (NGFW) can:

• analyze data traffic at a deeper level,
• identify and block suspicious activity,
• prevent the spread of malware within your network.

NGFW combines traditional network protection with advanced features such as intrusion detection and behavioral analysis.

Use cyber deception technology

DECEUS is an innovative cyber deception technology that works by creating fake targets and decoys within your infrastructure. This approach helps to:

1. Divert attackers away from critical systems: Intruders are lured to decoys that contain no real data.
2. Neutralize threats safely: While attackers focus on fake systems, your real data remains untouched.
3. Gather valuable insights: Monitoring attacker behavior allows you to strengthen your security measures.

Who is DECEUS for?

It is recommended for organizations managing critical data and infrastructure, such as government institutions, banks, and healthcare providers.

Antivirus and antimalware solutions

Every device in your network should be protected by reliable antivirus and antimalware software that:

• detects and removes malicious programs,
• protects devices from downloading infected files,
• alerts administrators about suspicious behavior.

Regular software updates

Ransomware and malware often exploit vulnerabilities in outdated software. Therefore:

• regularly update operating systems, applications, and security tools,
• implement patch management to ensure critical vulnerabilities are promptly fixed.

Why is this step important?

Ransomware and malware attacks can:

• encrypt and disable critical data,
• cause service outages,
• destroy the organization’s reputation.

Prevention is always cheaper and more effective than remediation.
Implementing modern firewalls, deception technologies like DECEUS, antivirus tools, and continuous employee education are key to minimizing risk.

5. Back up your data

Regular data backups are one of the most important steps in protecting your infrastructure from cyberattacks. Properly configured backup processes allow you to restore systems quickly — even in the event of a ransomware attack, technical failure, or other unexpected incident.

Why is backup crucial?

The Land Registry attack revealed how disastrous the consequences of inadequate backups can be. Without up-to-date and verified backups, recovery can be:

• complicated or impossible,
• prolonged for days or even weeks,
• damaging to the trust of clients and partners.

Regular backups minimize these risks and enable systems to be restored as quickly as possible.

How to back up data effectively

Set up regular backups

• Automate the backup process to eliminate human error.
• Define backup frequency based on how often your data changes (daily, weekly, or even continuous backups).

Use a combination of local and cloud backups

• Local backups: Store data on physical media such as NAS servers or external drives. These should be isolated from the main network to protect them from attacks.
• Cloud backups: Store copies in a secure cloud to protect against physical damage to local hardware (e.g., fire or flood).

Use multi-layered backups (the 3-2-1 rule)

• 3 copies of data: one primary and two backups.
• 2 types of storage: local and cloud or other separate environments.
• 1 offsite backup: stored outside the main office (e.g., in a data center or the cloud).

Test data recovery
Backups are only effective if they can be used for recovery. Therefore:

• regularly test the recovery process,
• verify the integrity of backup files to ensure they’re not corrupted,
• simulate recovery after a cyberattack to identify weaknesses.

Prepare a Disaster Recovery Plan (DRP)

A DRP is essential for organizations managing critical data. It should include:

1. Recovery procedures: step-by-step instructions for restoring data and systems.
2. Priority identification: determine which systems and data must be restored first.
3. Responsible personnel: define the team in charge of recovery and communication during the incident.

Why is this step important?

Without proper backups, system recovery can be:

• extremely costly,
• time-consuming,
• or even impossible, leading to permanent data loss and loss of trust.

Regular, properly configured backups are your safety net for the worst-case scenario — ensuring business continuity even after a major cyber incident.

6. Establish a Security Operations Center (SOC)

For companies that take cybersecurity seriously, setting up a Security Operations Center (SOC) is essential. The SOC serves as the central hub for overseeing all security operations, providing real-time visibility into threats and enabling fast, effective responses to any security incidents.

What is a Security Operations Center (SOC)?

A SOC is a specialized unit that:

• Monitors security threats in real time: Tracks network activity, data transfers, and all access to your systems.
• Analyzes and assesses risks: Identifies suspicious behavior and potential vulnerabilities in your infrastructure.
• Coordinates incident response: Enables rapid threat neutralization and minimizes damage.
• Improves prevention: Stores data on all security incidents to enhance future protection measures.

Key functions of a SOC

1. 24/7 monitoring
   A SOC operates continuously, ensuring that any threat is detected immediately — regardless of the time or day.
2. Data collection and correlation
   The SOC gathers information from all parts of the infrastructure — firewalls, SIEM systems, endpoints, and cloud platforms — then analyzes it to identify potential threats.
3. Incident Response (IR)
   A SOC includes incident response specialists ready to act quickly during a cyberattack, identify its source, and eliminate the threat.
4. Reporting and analysis
   The SOC regularly produces reports on security incidents and the performance of security measures. These reports help management make informed decisions about future cybersecurity strategies.

How to implement a SOC in your company

1.Define the goals of your SOC

Determine what you want to achieve, such as:

• continuous monitoring,
• fast incident response,
• increased overall cyber resilience.

2. Use advanced tools and technologies
Your SOC should be equipped with tools for monitoring, detection, and response, including:

• SIEM systems: for centralized monitoring and analysis of security events,
• EDR solutions: for endpoint protection and anomaly detection,
• DLP and NGFW: for data leak prevention and network protection.

3. Build a skilled team
A SOC requires a team of trained specialists responsible for monitoring, analyzing, and resolving security incidents.

4. Develop incident response plans
Every SOC should have a detailed plan for handling different types of threats, including ransomware, phishing, and DDoS attacks.

5. Conduct regular tests and audits
Regularly test systems for vulnerabilities and perform simulated attacks to evaluate the SOC’s readiness and uncover weaknesses.

Why is this step important?

A SOC represents a central point for effective cybersecurity. It enables organizations to:

• have an overview of all threats in real time,
• respond quickly to any security incident,
• strengthen the prevention and protection of critical systems.

A Security Operations Center gives you control, confidence, and the ability to withstand even the most sophisticated attacks.

Let’s learn from it

The incident with the land registry reminded us how important it is to have a robust and comprehensive cybersecurity strategy. Cyber threats are constantly growing and can paralyze critical systems, which may have far-reaching consequences not only for organizations but also for individuals.

It is clear that completely eliminating the risk of attacks is impossible, but their impact can be significantly minimized through timely measures. Investment in prevention, modern security solutions, and regular employee training is far lower than the costs associated with addressing the aftermath of attacks and restoring systems.

Remember that in cybersecurity, one simple rule applies: the best defense is preparation. Whether it’s securing access, protecting data, regular backups, or establishing a Security Operations Center, every measure you implement today can save you enormous problems tomorrow.

Let’s be proactive, not just reactive. We can face cyber threats with confidence if we are prepared and secure our systems at every level. Cybersecurity is not just a technical matter – it is a commitment to protect what is most valuable to us: our data, operations, and the trust of our clients and partners.