Prague, Czech Republic, August 24, 2022 - Avast (LSE:AVST), a global leader in digital security and privacy, today launches a new Ransomware Shield for businesses, offering organizations an extra layer of protection against ransomware attacks. This will ensure businesses can secure their most important files and crucially, customer data, with proactive protection which prevents unauthorized access. The new feature is available now, included, as part of the Avast Essential, Premium, and Ultimate Business Security packages for businesses for both Windows and MacOS. 

Despite observing a decline in ransomware attacks in Q4 2021 and Q1 2022, ransomware attacks are increasing globally once again. Avast witnessed a 24% increase in ransomware attacks in Q2 2022 in comparison to Q1 2022.

Filip Hlinka, VP of Product, Avast Business, says, “Small businesses are facing a growing threat from ransomware, with cybercriminals increasingly targeting smaller organizations to encrypt crucial business data and disrupt operations. The results can be devastating for small businesses that lack the financial and technical resources to rebound from such attacks. Avast’s antivirus has always offered consumers and business users powerful protection against cyberthreats including ransomware, and Ransomware Shield offers a purpose-built, additional layer of protection which helps to secure businesses’ most crucial files against these highly damaging attacks.” 

While Avast customers are already protected against ransomware via Avast’s existing Web Shield, File Shield, and Behavior Shield, Ransomware Shield works alongside them to provide multi-layered protection, ensuring businesses have uninterrupted access to their systems and data. Ransomware Shield works by safeguarding files and folders from being modified, deleted, or encrypted by unknown applications. Users can specify which applications have permission to access their files, providing an additional layer of protection for organizations’ most confidential and important data. The new feature is automatically enabled by default, and users can customize the list of protected files and folders in the policy in the Avast Business Hub. 

Ransomware Shield is now available for all Avast Small Business Solutions users.