Want to Survive Ransomware? Here’s How to Protect Your PC

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  • August 22, 2019

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Ransomware is everything bad about humanity distilled into malware—maliciousness, greed, and casual incompetence. It encrypts your files and demands payment for a key that might not even work. But with the right backup strategy, your files can survive an infection.

We recommend you do this today and avoid the debate over whether you should pay the ransom.

What You Need to Know About Ransomware

Ransomware is a kind of malware designed to lock you out of your computer unless you pay a ransom. It usually encrypts your files to lock you out, and the ransom is typically in cryptocurrency. Ransomware usually targets corporate, enterprise, and government entities, but individuals can and do get pulled into the fray.

The software is increasingly sophisticated with new variants arriving all the time. While most criminals treat an attack as a transaction, some ransomware authors seem to revel in screwing with victims. Last year, we learned about ZENIS, ransomware that purposely deletes backups. And more recently, GermanWiper, which doesn’t encrypt your files at all—it simply deletes them and demands a ransom anyway. Hapless victims who pay have nothing to decrypt because their files were gone from the start.

A ransomware warning screen.

And there are more attack vectors than ever.

“Ransomware is now being transmitted in a variety of mechanisms making it increasingly difficult for end-users to stay protected,” said Victor Congionti, chief information officer at cybersecurity firm Proven Data. “Traditionally, ransomware has been distributed via email campaigns that rely on gullible users to download malicious links.” But he also said, “Ransomware is increasingly distributed in nontraditional ways.”

Criminals now disguise it in apps and unvetted software. Or, they transmit it through spear-phishing attacks, in which they target individuals within an organization who are more likely to click on suspicious links.

It’s a jungle out there!

How to Protect Your Backups From Ransomware

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Source : Want to Survive Ransomware? Here’s How to Protect Your PC