It’s sad to say that the new and fast growing threat within our country is ransomware. There are more and more news headlines dealing with different companies who got hacked and lost the control of their own software environment. Let’s talk about what ransomware is and what can be done to protect your infrastructure.
What is Ransomware?
In layman’s terms ransomware is a malicious internet based attack on your server environment. It’s often a piece of code hidden in an attachment that the end user isn’t aware of but can activate with a single click. The primary goal of these cyber criminals is to try and completely block you out of your software environment. You lose operating control, and now they can make all kinds of demands to give you back your keys.
How Does Ransomware Work?
Ransomware is a small snippet of code that is activated usually by tricking the users they are clicking on something they want to see or do (open this funny link, listen to this great song, etc). The malware piece then starts to encrypt data on your computer or network storage and slowly makes files inaccessible. At this point your computer(s) are not usable because files are locked up and unrecognizable. Often the only way to release these files is to deal with the hijackers and get the reversal software, at a premium.
How to Protect Yourself Against Ransomware
Perhaps the most important line of defense is to teach your team not to open any attachments from emails, chats or software they don’t recognize. Also be sure that you are running a strong anti-virus shield software as an overwhelming majority of these *bugs* can be caught before they download to your team’s computers.
Just as importantly it is critical that your software stays up to date with the newest security releases come out. Often critical patches will come out that address a new method of attack that’s recently been found.
Make sure you also backup on a normal basis. There are times when you can recover everything, patch it, update your software suite and get back online without any major issues. There is no guarantee that this approach will work but it can be an option.
Quick Connect Offers IT Services to New York, New Jersey and is Ready to Help!
We encourage you to be consistent with your updates, upgrades, and stay vigilant with different information that gets downloaded to your computer. If this part is too overwhelming to handle then reach out and let us know how we can be of help! We offer managed IT solutions that can help and create a great defense and backup plan for your company technology.