Avoiding Falling Victim To Ransomware

Ransomware is among the nastiest of the malware that lurks out there, and there’s more and more of it each year. New legislation may help stem the tide, but you still need to take steps to protect yourself and your business.

Today we’re going to go through exactly what you need to do to manage the threat of ransomware.

How Ransomware Works

Let’s get up to speed on how precisely ransomware works.

Ransomware is a form of malware that infects systems with the intent of encrypting or otherwise locking away either individual files, or access to the system as a whole. Once the owner of the system has been locked out, they will then receive a popup instructing them to pay a ransom or lose their data forever.

The popular spread of anonymous cryptocurrency has fueled the rise of ransomware, as it allows them to more easily get away with the crime. This coupled with the increasing ease of acquiring the software necessary to perpetrate the scheme has led to an unprecedented rise in the popularity of ransomware attacks against businesses and individuals.

Now that we know what we’re up against, let’s look at what we can do to prevent it.

Stay Away From Common Sources of Infection

An ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure, so let’s look at how to avoid falling victim to ransomware attacks in the first place.

Ransomware can infect systems through all of the usual ways malware accesses computers. Malicious and unsafe websites are one way to get infected with all sorts of nasties, ransomware included. A process known as drive-by downloading allows websites to download malware onto the systems of visitors without their knowledge.

Phishing style emails, text messages, or Social Media links are another way of infecting systems. Never click on suspicious links or open files from unknown or untrustworthy sources.

And as with all malware, have a solid antivirus solution in place and keep it updated. Avoiding your digital systems getting infected in the first place is the best thing you can do to protect yourself and your business.

Never Pay A Ransom

The most important thing to remember if you’re ever subjected to a ransomware attack is to NEVER pay the ransomers. There are several reasons for this.

The first is that there’s no guarantee you will actually get your data back. Ransomers will commonly promise you that upon receiving the ransom they will either decrypt the data or send you a key you can use to decrypt it yourself. There is absolutely no guarantee that this will happen.

Much more likely is that they will simply take your money and disappear, or even attempt to extract a second payment from you.

Less directly, giving into their demands makes them more likely to target you (and others) again. If their scheme is working, why shouldn't they keep going? The best way to put an end to this threat for good is to simply send ransomers the message that they can’t make any money from it.

To top it all off, new legislation is coming that will make it illegal to hide if you’re the victim of a ransomware attack. You can’t just pay the ransomers and have the problem go away. The chances of that working are about to go from slim to none.

Backup Your Data Regularly

The easiest way to recover from a ransomware attack is simply to remove the infectious program from your system and start fresh. Of course due to the very nature of the threat this can be difficult to manage, especially if you’re locked out of the entire system.

The best solution to this problem is to be able to bring in an uninfected copy of your system and files from elsewhere, which brings us to the importance of regular backups.

There are a variety of threats facing your computer systems, malware, file corruption, theft, a toddler with a hammer, and so on. No matter the precise nature of the threat, the worst case scenario is always the complete loss of your data and the system it resides on.

This kind of catastrophic loss can easily spell doom for an unprepared business, think about how much crucial information you would lose if your computer went up in flames. Backup your critical files onto an external hard drive or cloud regularly, every month at least, but weekly backups are even better.

The more recent your last backup, the easier it is to simply wipe an infected system and keep on going. If you face losing months or years worth of crucial data to a ransomware attack, your options for dealing with it shrink considerably, and the damage it can do to your business multiplies immensely.

Ransomware is a scary thing to have to deal with, but with a few simple steps you can greatly reduce your chances of ever falling victim to it. Don’t neglect your cybersecurity, your business depends on it.