The Best Ransomware Scanners

Find malicious ransomware on your network quickly and securely with these ransomware scanners.

Ransomware poses an increasing threat to a vast number of businesses, but the threat that it poses can be offset by the clever incorporation of several security systems.

The best approach to preventing ransomware attacks is the proactive scanning and mitigation of exploits through a dedicated Ransomware Scanner. These solutions use intelligent systems—from log reading to AI-Driven behavioral analysis, to catch malicious agents in the process of setting up a ransomware attack long before they can pose a threat to your network.

Here is our list of the best Ransomware Scanners:

1. ManageEngine Endpoint Central – FREE TRIAL This remote monitoring and management package for IT departments includes a ransomware detection system and a backup and recovery service. Runs on Windows Server or can be accessed as a cloud service. Get a 30-day free trial.
2. CrowdStrike Falcon Insight XDR A highly competent, enterprise-grade ransomware scanner, Falcon Insight XDR from CrowdStrike aims to provide thorough and consistent insight into a broad range of endpoints.
3. Rapid7 InsightIDR An Insight Agent allows InsightIDR, a cloud-based unified SIEM, to gather data from your whole network environment. Thanks to unified data collection, security, IT, and DevOps teams can collaborate effectively to monitor and assess their network.
4. SpinOne A 24/7, fully automated ransomware defense tool that is designed exclusively to safeguard data on Gmail, Google Drive, and shared drives.
5. ZoneAlarm Anti-Ransomware A commercial security program that is designed to safeguard a single device rather than a whole network, by using real-time behavior analysis to spot and neutralize ransomware threats.
6. GravityZone Business Security For small-to-medium-sized enterprises that require a top-notch solution at an affordable price, GravityZone Business Security is one of the best ransomware scanning options on the market.
7. Exabeam By attacking the solution from two similar sides, Exabeam offers both a SIEM and an XDR solution that can both offer significant ransomware protection.
8. Avast One Avast offers a free ransomware scanning tool that is ideal for single devices if you need a cost-effective solution for your ransomware screening and mitigation requirements.

SIEM or XDR?

Throughout this article, you will see mention of the acronyms ‘SIEM’ and ‘XDR’—both of which pertain to a similar approach to handling security analytics and threat response. They differ slightly but fundamentally achieve the same thing through slightly different approaches. But what are SIEM and XDR?

• Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) focuses primarily on the scanning and detection of potential threats within a network through parsing event data and direct system logs. SIEM is the classic method of scanning for malware, ransomware, and malicious activity.
• Extended Detection and Response (XDR) goes beyond the capabilities of SIEM by adding extra functionality beyond the standard event log analysis. This typically means the inclusion of things like behavioral analysis and has a broader focus that can extend across multiple domains. XDR is the more modern approach to ransomware detection.

The Best Ransomware Scanners

1. ManageEngine Endpoint Central – FREE TRIAL

ManageEngine Endpoint Central is a remote monitoring and management package that is designed for use by IT departments. There is a version for managed service providers, called Endpoint Central MSP. This package includes a backup service to prepare for disaster and a ransomware scanner. So, it provides the ideal combination of systems to guard against ransomware attacks.

Key Features:

• Uses Microsoft VSS
• Detect ransomware
• Protects endpoints running Windows, macOS, and Linux
• UEM option that also manages mobile devices
• Focuses attention on unknown software

The Endpoint Central system assesses all of the software on each endpoint and approves well-known packages. It will then ignore those reliable systems when scanning for threats. This speeds up the scanning for threats. An administrator can add software to this list of trusted systems. The package tracks the activity of all of the other software on an endpoint, looking for unusual activity. The ideal situation is to have only trusted software installed on each endpoint so that any other software on the system is automatically treated as suspicious.

Software management functions include license management. The system also scans the software inventory of each endpoint regularly, looking for patch availability. The service automatically updates software when patches become available.

System scanning services include file monitoring, looking for unauthorized changes. This service involves user behavior analytics, looking for unusual and unexpected behavior. This activity tracking is the main mechanism for spotting ransomware.

Rather than providing its own backup and recovery service, the Endpoint Central system activates the Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) that is built into Windows. This provides backups automatically and the Endpoint Central console can interface to these stores, identifying which damaged files can be recovered. The tool doesn’t back up computers running macOS or Linux, so administrators will have to make alternative arrangements to protect files on those operating systems.

Endpoint Central is available as a SaaS platform or as a software package for Windows Server. There are several editions of the package with more features in high, more expensive plans. The Free edition includes all of the features of the most expensive plan, except that it is limited to managing 25 endpoints. You can get an unrestricted  30-day free trial of the top plan in either of its deployment options.

ManageEngine Endpoint Central Start a 30-day FREE Trial

2. CrowdStrike Falcon Insight XDR

Falcon Insight XDR by CrowdStrike is a highly-professional, enterprise-grade ransomware scanner that is aimed toward comprehensive and consistent insight into a wide scope of endpoints. The system is geared towards protecting from all manner of malicious attacks, not just ransomware, which makes it an excellent choice for a long-term security solution. The solution provides continuous monitoring that records endpoint activity while also delivering comprehensive analysis and visibility to automatically spot unusual activities and guarantee that breaches and covert assaults are halted.

Key Features:

• Cloud-based
• Enterprise-level scalability
• Intelligent EDR
• Threat Hunting
• Continuous raw event recording

Falcon Insight also offers the ability to enable threat hunting with complete endpoint activity details. Threat hunting means actively looking for cyber threats that are present in a network but go unnoticed—and involves a combination of AI-driven detection and human oversight. The system also includes a simple-to-use Incident Workbench that can break down and analyze any presented attack while containing context and threat intelligence data. The inbuilt CrowdScore system provides situational awareness of your organization's current threat level and how it is evolving over time.

The solution comes with a 15-day free trial to test the available features within your existing business environment. Falcon Insight XDR comes as part of a full Falcon product subscription, specifically as an optional extra attached to either the Falcon Enterprise or Falcon Elite product subscriptions. The Falcon Enterprise package is listed as costing $15.99 per endpoint per month but expect additional costs to add Falcon Insight XDR to that package.

Overall, this means Falcon Insight XDR is the best option for complete security insight and protection that goes beyond just Ransomware—but if ransomware protection is all you’re looking for, then cheaper alternatives exist.

3. Rapid7 InsightIDR

Rapid7 InsightIDR is a cloud-based unified SIEM that works through an ‘Insight Agent’ to get information from your network environment as a whole. Security, IT, and DevOps teams can work together efficiently to monitor and evaluate their environments thanks to unified data collecting. Rapid7 claim that this installed agent provides more accurate insight into the inner security of your network beyond merely reading and interpreting log/event data that is typical of SIEM products. Regardless, the agent does collect endpoint data such as complete asset details, Windows registry details, file version, and package details, running processes, authentication details, local security details, event logs, etc.

Key Features:

• Network Traffic Analysis
• Lightweight intelligent user agent
• User and Entity Behavior Analytics
• Embedded Threat Intelligence
• Response automation

InsightIDR's curated ‘intrusion detection system’ (IDS) zeroes in on serious threats, whereas other network monitoring technologies can generate a lot of noise. You can get extra network metadata to comprehend the complete breadth of activities for robust forensics and investigations. Regular user behavior is regularly baselined by InsightIDR, meaning that regardless of whether attackers pose as employees, the detection systems will almost always flag them as suspicious. Correlated user data also provides significant context for further attacker alarms, accelerating your inquiries and actions.

InsightIDR has a 30-day free trial available to sign-up for and download through the provided link on the website. The full product works through a monthly subscription model and costs around $5.89/mo per asset, with a 500 asset minimum applied.

4. SpinOne

SpinOne is a fully automated, round-the-clock ransomware protection solution specifically tailored for protecting data on Gmail, Google Drive, and Shared Drives. The system can identify malicious sources to stop unenforced encryption, revoke any maliciously acquired API access, and stop other files or communications in your Google Workspace environment from being encrypted. SpinOne also provides the ability to automatically send Slack or email security alerts to the domain administrator, which can allow you to determine the number of encrypted files, then start an automated recovery process using the most recent successfully backed-up version.

Key Features:

• Google-centric ransomware scanner
• Anti-encryption protocols
• Apps Risk Assessment
• Central monitoring dashboard
• Notification automation

To detect, prevent, mitigate, and recover from significant cyber security incidents, such as cloud ransomware attacks, SpinOne gives Google Workspace Administrators the ability to apply several security measures. You can define security settings in SpinOne to enable unique security policies by your organization's requirements. The product enables mission-critical enterprise data to be monitored, managed, and protected through a centralized dashboard.

SpinOne has a free trial alongside the full product, both of which are downloaded and installed through the Google Workspace marketplace. The full product is broken down into various available subsections that can be licensed individually or in a broader package that contains all components.

The SpinSecurity package for $5.00 per user/month contains the ‘Proactive Ransomware Monitoring & Response’ you’re likely here for, but it lacks features like customizable security policies or broader incident monitoring that you may find necessary. These additional and, frankly, fundamental features come with the full SpinOne package for $9.00 per user/month.

5. ZoneAlarm Anti-Ransomware

ZoneAlarm Anti-Ransomware is a commercial security solution aimed mostly toward protecting individual devices, as opposed to an entire network. The solution employs real-time behavior analysis that is used to identify and stop ransomware threats, with a primary focus on threats that ‘conventional’ endpoint protection applications would otherwise miss. The Anti Ransomware capability can recognize and address zero-day ransomware threats by utilizing behavioral technologies that do not rely on conventional signature updates.

Key Features:

• Ransomware behavioral analysis
• Automated malware analysis and quarantine
• Rapid data restoration
• Integration with ZoneAlarm Web Secure
• Illegitimate encryption scanner

The product contains a separate file-tracking engine that searches for indications that data files, including documents and photographs, are being improperly and repeatedly encrypted. The file-tracking engine closely monitors all file modifications, determining which programs are modifying data files and the nature of the modification. It is intended to accurately distinguish between legal and illegal activity. All malicious components of the threat, as determined by the customizable forensic attack model, are terminated and quarantined using ZoneAlarm's malware eradication features.

The solution has a free trial that can be tested out for a better understanding of how the solution works (be aware that the hyperlink will automatically download the trial from that web page). As mentioned, the product is aimed toward individual PCs instead of full network protection, so this is best considered when looking for a solution for smaller businesses.

The full product is licensed on a yearly or 2-year basis and costs approximately $25.95 per PC license. However, the costs decrease with more purchases up to a maximum of 10 devices for $74.95—meaning there are significant discounts available when buying for more endpoints.

6. GravityZone Business Security

GravityZone Business Security is one of the best ransomware scanner solutions available on the market for small-to-medium scale businesses that need an excellent solution at a reasonable price. The included Ransomware Mitigation features are intended to lessen the effects of an ongoing ransomware assault by detecting any time a potential new ransomware strain tries to encrypt files, and it immediately makes a backup of the targeted files that can be restored when the malware has been stopped. GravityZone can also alert IT administrators, disable the attack's contributing processes, and initiate corrective action all in a single unified process.

Key Features:

• Preemptive ransomware protection
• Real-Time Monitoring
• Human Risk Analytics
• Targeted file-backups
• On-premises or Cloud

New behavior patterns are accurately identified by machine learning anti-malware in real-time, and malicious processes are automatically detected and terminated by Advanced Anti-Exploit. With the help of GravityZone's numerous risk mitigation tools, businesses are protected from ransomware assaults by systems and application flaws and incorrect configurations, and its special Human Risk Analytics module ensures that ransomware attacks that take advantage of dangerous user activities and behaviors are prevented.

GravityZone Business Security by Bitdefender comes with a free trial. The full product is available for between 3 and 100 endpoints, with servers counting towards a portion of that maximum equivalent to around 30%. Licenses work on a 1-year, 2-year, or 3-year subscription with reduced costs at longer periods and larger endpoint commitments. For example, a 1-year license for 10 endpoints costs around $259, which can cover up to 3 servers from amongst those 10 endpoints.

7. Exabeam

Exabeam presents both a SIEM and XDR solution that can each provide substantial ransomware protection by approaching the solution from two similar angles; alternatively, you can unify both the SIEM and XDR into a single and extremely potent security product. Fusion SIEM provides enterprise-scale logging and search combined with security analytics and automation. The product is fully cloud-delivered and uses automation and machine learning to discover risks that other products miss, while also increasing analyst productivity, and offering threat detection, investigation, and response.

Key Features:

• SIEM and XDR with cross-integration
• Behavioral analytics
• Automated TDIR
• In-depth network visibility
• Compliance reporting

Meanwhile, Fusion XDR scans weak data points to transform them into high-fidelity threat indicators by dismantling bottlenecks using behavioral analytics. This method quickly finds complex or internal threats, while also enabling analysts at all levels to automate their workflow, including incident response, evidence gathering, triage, and investigation.

Exabeam doesn’t provide any form of free trial for either of their products, but they do offer demos that you can sign up for through the Exabeam website. For full details on pricing, you will need to contact Exabeam directly to discuss a quote on your exact business needs. While this does mean their pricing is obscured, it also means you can expect a level of customizability that might pay off with a bespoke package that fulfills your requirements.

8. Avast One

If you need a budget solution for your ransomware scanning and mitigation needs, then Avast provides a free ransomware scanning tool that works perfectly for individual devices. While it doesn’t compare to the other enterprise-grade, business-focussed solutions in this article; Avast presents a perfectly streamlined and excellent freely available product that anyone can install and run for quick and reliable protection. Avast provides their solution for Windows, iOS, Mac, and Android products to ensure your devices are secure across multiple platforms.

Key Features:

• Free ransomware protection
• Included antivirus and advanced firewall
• Network and connectivity advisor
• Additional premium features

The solution detects ransomware early on before it has a chance to harm your data, by employing detection parameters across six layers of security. Additionally, Avast One protects you from phishing scams, Wi-Fi snoopers, data thieves, and more in addition to removing and preventing malware and ransomware.

A Premium upgrade for the product expands the capabilities of the default-free solution to include extra features that may pique your interest. This includes the ability to protect your sensitive personal information from unauthorized access, and the ability to monitor data breaches for compromised passwords to your online accounts. The premium solution is approximately $50.28 per year.