Cato’s Ransomware Lab Births Network-based Ransomware Prevention

Cato Networks announces a network-based ransomware protection feature that uses machine-learning heuristics to inspect SMB traffic for file properties, shared-volume access patterns, network behavior and rapid encryption intervals; when ransomware-like activity is detected the system blocks SMB traffic from the source device and isolates it for remediation. The capability was developed in a ransomware lab where Cato reproduced infections from multiple families (e.g., Black Basta, Conti, Avos Locker) and is presented as an addition to their existing antimalware and IPS defenses.