How will you react if you lost all your photos and documents?
What is Ransomware?
Ransomware is a type malware that is designed to extort money from a victim. If it gets on your device it will steal your documents, pictures, videos – everything! Ransomware will demand a payment in order to undo changes. How will you react if you lost everything on your device because of ransomware?
How does Ransomware gets onto a computer/laptop/phone/tablet?
The most common ways are:
How to protect yourself
Back up regularly and keep a recent backup copy off-site. There are lots of ways other than ransomware that files can suddenly vanish, such as: fire, theft, a dropped laptop/phone or even an accidental delete. Encrypt your backup and you won’t have to worry about the backup device falling into the wrong hands.
Be cautious about unsolicited attachments. The hackers are relying on the dilemma that you shouldn’t open a document until you are sure it’s one you want, but you can’t tell if it’s one you want until you open it. If in doubt, leave it out.
Patch early, patch often. Malware that doesn’t come in via document macros often relies on security bugs in popular applications, including Office, your browser, Flash and more. The sooner you patch, the fewer open holes remain for the hackers to exploit. In the case of this attack, users want to be sure they are using the most updated versions of PDF and Word.
Ransomware is a type malware that is designed to extort money from a victim. If it gets on your device it will steal your documents, pictures, videos – everything! Ransomware will demand a payment in order to undo changes. How will you react if you lost everything on your device because of ransomware?
How does Ransomware gets onto a computer/laptop/phone/tablet?
The most common ways are:
- Via phishing emails and smishing texts which contain a fake link or attachment
- As a result of visiting a website that contains a malicious program
- Unlicensed or dodgy apps
- False claims about illegal content
How to protect yourself
Back up regularly and keep a recent backup copy off-site. There are lots of ways other than ransomware that files can suddenly vanish, such as: fire, theft, a dropped laptop/phone or even an accidental delete. Encrypt your backup and you won’t have to worry about the backup device falling into the wrong hands.
Be cautious about unsolicited attachments. The hackers are relying on the dilemma that you shouldn’t open a document until you are sure it’s one you want, but you can’t tell if it’s one you want until you open it. If in doubt, leave it out.
Patch early, patch often. Malware that doesn’t come in via document macros often relies on security bugs in popular applications, including Office, your browser, Flash and more. The sooner you patch, the fewer open holes remain for the hackers to exploit. In the case of this attack, users want to be sure they are using the most updated versions of PDF and Word.
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