It used to be that ransom notes were made from cut up pieces of magazines and mailed to an unsuspecting victim about the abduction of an item, or even worse, a loved one until they paid the required ransom. In today’s technology-driven world, ransomware has become much more advanced. Now hackers use digital software to block or encrypt all data that is being held for ransom. When the victim pays up the data is released. Let’s take a look at the risks and prevention techniques to stop this from happening to you or your business.
Lowering Your Risk
- Be sure that all of your data is backed up whether it is on an external drive, in the cloud, or at an offsite facility. If you have copies of your data then you have no fear of losing it.
- Refrain from opening attachments that look suspicious in any way such as: attachments that look unfamiliar, unknown senders, misspelled senders, misspelled topic line, or even an email that is unexpected.
- Think twice before clicking on any hyperlinks. These links can even be from people you trust whose social media accounts have been hacked.
- Keep your software up-to-date and use the latest patches.
- Keep your firewalls properly configured at all times.
- Use a browser block for pop ups ads which is a common place for ransomware to be hidden.
- Disable file share so even if you do get hit only your machine will be vulnerable.
- Block unknown IP addresses.
- Switch off unused wireless connections.
- Set your computer email to deny emails sent with “.EXE” files, or to deny emails sent with files that have two file extensions.
- Use a reputable and comprehensive security program.
- Restrict access to certain parts of your data to only system administrators who have been trained on what red flags signal a ransomware attack.
- Educate your employees on what to look for and what not to click on in emails and on websites that may be fraudulent.
- Do not provide personal information when answering an email, unsolicited phone calls, text message, or instant message.
- If people in your office travel, alert the IT department beforehand, especially if you’re going to be using public wireless Internet. Make sure you use a trustworthy Virtual Private Network (VPN) when accessing public Wi-Fi like Norton WiFi Privacy.
Categorised in: antivirus, ransomware