5 Ways to Prevent Ransomware
- Posted On February 8, 2021
- Posted By Vu Nguyen
5 WAYS TO PREVENT RANSOMWARE
Ransomware is malicious software, which mostly spreads via email, and enables a user to use the computer or to access the data after paying a fee. This can also attack a system when a user visits an infected website. This is a money-making scheme, and an attacker demands the money in untraceable manners such as cryptocurrencies. This malicious software can encrypt important files as well as lock a system.
Besides the email spreading, it is delivered by phishing. If a malicious file from a phishing email is downloaded on a system, it can lock the screen of the system or can encrypt the files. This is mostly used by criminals for money and other illegal tasks.
Impact on Organization
Small and medium businesses are the most favorite targets for the attackers. That’s because these companies have a small cybersecurity team and they invest very low to prevent these attacks. Ransomware impacts businesses in different ways.
- Prevent Data Access: Ransomware has a strong ability to lock a system or to encrypt the data files with a password. This will cause serious damage to an organization as the organization is unable to access its data.
- Disturbance: As the files or system will be locked and the access to data is not available, this will disturb the routine work of an organization.
- Financial Cost: To get back the access from the attackers there is a fee to pay them. The attackers attack the data to get money. This will create a financial disturbance in an organization.
- According to past reports, Massachusetts (a city of New Bedford) was attacked for $5.3 million by attackers. In the city, the attackers locked the data of 158 computers.
- Reputation: The attackers can leak the data of an organization which will damage the privacy of their clients. This will result in losing clients as well as reputation in the market.
Prevention
The payment to get back the access from the attackers is not a solution. There is no guarantee that the data is safe or not damaged. The basic solution is to know about ransomware, its spreading causes, and the knowledge of how to prevent it from attacking a system. Here are the five most important tips/tricks to prevent ransomware.
- Inventory
- Anti-spamming Setting
- Avoiding
- Clicking
- Up to date Software
Inventory
Before connecting to a network, ensure which assets (software or hardware) are going to connect. To protect your system and data, make a list of the connected software and hardware. An active discovery will help a lot, however, this active discovery has limitations and will not be able to discover the assets installed by another user. Admit this deficiency and adopt the passive discovery method to create a comprehensive directory of assets. To get the maximum benefits from this method, always update the inventory list.
Anti-Spamming Setting
As described earlier, emails are the most used way of spreading ransomware or other malicious viruses. These emails have catchy titles and attachments. These attachments can consist of Word or PDF documents, the most used document formats in organizations and the world. But if an email contains other formats like: .SCR, .EXE, or .VBS, then never download or click on these files. To avoid receiving these kinds of formats, organize the webmail server setting to block these.
Avoid giving Personal Information
The phishing emails will try to get your personal information. These emails are also malicious and spread ransomware. The other chance is that they can have the access to your data or can buy it from the dark web. But it will require some more effort to fill out your data. To refill the data, ransomware will fetch some important information from your social media accounts and posts. So, it is best to not share everything on social media or share your personal information until it is extremely necessary.
Clicking
Never click on a suspected website, link, images, documents, messages, hyperlinks, or email. These things can have ransomware. These digital criminals can use an account of a friend, family, or a well-known person to trap the target. The target will surely open or click that link sent by a friend. Before clicking on an email document, ensure that it has an appropriate extension such as a Word document have .docx and a pdf book has .pdf extension. If there is a file having other or unknown extensions, then never click on it. For example, a pdf file with an .exe extension.
Updated Software
The software needs updates regularly to operate completely. The windows security software needs updates to remain active and detect the malicious software. This software has a system to stop harmful ransomware. Always ensure that it is updated. The windows operating system has a Windows Firewall system, this software prevents any dangerous or malicious software to enter or to make changes in the system.
If you want to know more about IT solutions or need a consultation, contact us at VN Consulting anytime. We will be happy to help you in solving all your IT issues.