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Ransomware – what is it?

Ransomware – maybe you’ve heard of it, maybe you haven’t. It’s been making it rounds on the internet as one of the most malicious types of malware, and for good reason.

Ransomware is a type of malware that will secretly install itself on your computer or cell phone (yes, it will bypass your antivirus, and will not be detected) and proceed to encrypt almost all of your files. It will scramble all your filenames and extensions half the time. It then proceeds to show a message on your screen, either by itself or when you attempt to open the file. The ransomware will demand payment, usually in Bitcoin, to decrypt your files. The encryption is unbreakable. It may then also run through your entire network and make botnets out of the rest of your computers and mobile devices in your home. This is truly pretty scary, as you will lose access to any digital picture or document that you have on that machine.

How do you usually get ransomware?

Ransomware may rear it’s ugly head in several ways :

1. Spam (most common way of getting ransomware – usually through email links and attachments)
2. Software exploits (systems not being updated are the culprit here, most of the time).
3. Malicious redirects to other unsafe sites.
4. Code injection (this can happen in safe sites as well).
5. Drive by downloads or fly-by installs.
6. SMS (most common way to infect your phone).
7. Botnets (through other computers)
8. Self-propagation through your network or your work network.

How do I avoid it?

The following short list should help you avoid ransomware.

1. BACK UP YOUR FILES!! Make sure you back up all your files to an external hard drive. There are so many reasons to do this, and malware is only one of them.
2. Do not browse untrusted sites. If there are any sites that look even remotely suspicious to you, get out of there.
3. Watch your email attachments and links. Only click a link in an email or open an attachment if you are absolutely sure it’s safe. Even then, it’s better to go directly to the site on the browser instead of clicking on the link.
4. An ad blocker might help. Use Adblock Plus or another trusted ad blocker – it speeds up load times on sites and can save you a lot of potential grief by removing those ads, some of which may be malicious.
5. Keep your OS and antivirus up to date (yes, that includes you, Mac and Linux users – ransomware is also available for those systems)

I suspect I may have ransomware – what do I do?

1.Contact the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center. The only concrete solution that you have at this point is to restore your files, unfortunately.

2. Make sure you scan your computer with your antivirus software. You can also go to Crypto Sheriff to get free uninstallers for the ransomware.

Try changing the file extensions back to their original extensions (a few types of ransomware don’t really encrypt your files, they just act like they do).

This is why I can’t stress enough – BACK UP YOUR FILES!

If all else fails, the decision to pay up will be up to you – 42 percent of small businesses paid up last year. However, we want to avoid this option as much as possible, because it encourages the malware writers to keep on writing stronger and more efficient malware programs.

Need to learn more? Microsoft has a nice infographic.