The Ransomware attacks are on rise. Being an IT Support company, we are getting lots of calls for Ransomware attacks from our end customers. The frequency of these attacks is a major concern.
What is Ransomware: ransomware is an access-denial type of attack that prevents users from accessing files on their PC or laptop. Since it is intractable to decrypt the files without the decryption key. There are many variants that can affect one or many systems and network- attached drives. As per an estimate, there are now more than 100 separate families of ransomware. The big profile target included University of Calgary, transferred 20,000 Canadian dollars-worth of bitcoins, after it was unable to unwind damage caused by a type of attack known as ransomware. The malware caused emails and other files to become encrypted. Similarly, In February, the Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center paid $17,000 to restore access to its system. The FBI has warned that it had seen ransomware attacks double in the past year, with more than 2,400 complaints.
How to avoid Ransomware attacks?
Prevention and caution is the best remedy to avoid these kinds of hack attacks. Ransomware can affect you various sources including the following:
- Visting unsafe, suspicious, or fake websites
- Clicking on unknown links or opening emails from people you don’t know
- Introduce content scanning and filtering on your mail servers
- Visiting sites with excess ads and clicking these spurious ads
Avoid clicking or opening bads emails/links.
- Make sure you always have a complete backup of your PC or Server if you are on a network. If a dedicated backup software is not possible, try copying your important files to an external Hard drive or removable.
- Cloud backup is a perfect solution in case you have been hit by a ransomware. Proper backups ensure that you are up and running at the earliest without any major loss of time or data.
- Always keep your security software up to date and running. They are necessary even you don’t like them.
- Most important educate and train your employees to avoid these kinds of malware.
- Never panic and contact your IT Service provider, in case there is an attack.
