Top Ransomware Attack Vectors: How to Defend Against Them

This report summarizes the rise and impact of ransomware, details primary attack vectors (unpatched/exposed assets, phishing, compromised credentials), highlights real-world cases (Colonial Pipeline, Royal, Clop/MOVEit), and recommends mitigation strategies—notably attack surface management, patching, access controls, segmentation, backups, and incident response—while describing how Censys’ ASM capabilities can help detect and prioritize exposed assets.