HOW TO PROTECT YOURSELF FROM RANSOMWARE
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Loading...Ransomware threats are everywhere. Most of them can be found in emails. According to the Internet Security Threat Report made by Symantec, “ Emails are now being used by hackers, and an estimated one in every 131 emails contain a malware.”. Which is why you must find ways on how to protect yourself from ransomware, especially because email is already part of our daily lives. And to better protect yourself from ransomware, we must first identify the real identity of a ransomware.
A ransomware is a special type of malware that blocks access from a computer or from a certain file, it can also encrypt your important data. You can regain access to your computer only if you pay a certain amount of ransom. The ransom is paid online using credit cards, Bitcoin or other forms of cryptocurrencies.
Ransomware threats are everywhere. Most of them can be found in emails. According to the Internet Security Threat Report made by Symantec, “ Emails are now being used by hackers, and an estimated one in every 131 emails contain a malware.”. Which is why you must find ways on how to protect yourself from ransomware, especially because email is already part of our daily lives. And to better protect yourself from ransomware, we must first identify the real identity of a ransomware.
A ransomware is a special type of malware that blocks access from a computer or from a certain file, it can also encrypt your important data. You can regain access to your computer only if you pay a certain amount of ransom. The ransom is paid online using credit cards, Bitcoin or other forms of cryptocurrencies.
Attributes To Identify Ransomware
To have a better means on how to protect yourself from ransomware, we must first know what are the attributes of a ransomware to have a better understanding of how you can defend yourself properly.
A Ransomware Can Extract Data
A ransomware has the capability of extracting data from your computer. This extracted files can be sent to the criminal’s server. They will look for any important information like passwords or credit card accounts. They will find ways on how they can get money out of that information coming from your computer. That is why you must be mindful of how to protect yourself from ransomware to avoid these incidents to happen.
A Ransomware Can Spread in The Entire Network
Another unique characteristic of a ransomware is to spread the malware infection throughout the local network. You must know how to protect yourself from ransomware because your computer might get the malware infection from another computer that is connected to your local network.
A Ransomware Can Use Your Computer Resources to be Part of Botnet
Your computer can be part of a botnet if you don’t know how to protect yourself from ransomware. Once the ransomware successfully entered a system, it will automatically connect to the outside world to connect to the network of other ransomware infected computers. If that thing happens, your computer will now be part of a botnet and will be used a spread the ransomware infections.
A Ransomware Can Put Pressure On You In Paying The Ransom Immediately
The intrusion process of a ransomware is hidden. But once it completely extracts to your files it will now reveal itself in the form of a ransom message. Usually, this ransom message is made to pressure the victim to pay immediately because the message has a time limit. It could be 24-72 hours and if the payment is not been done, the ransomware will delete all the infected files. They put a timer on the ransom message to add a psychological pressure on the victim to make a payment immediately.
A Ransomware Will Demand You to Pay in Bitcoins
When a ransom message has been displayed on the computer, you will notice that a ransomware typically asks for a payment using Bitcoin. They preferred to use Bitcoin because it is very hard to trace the transactions made using cryptocurrencies. Therefore, cybercriminals can easily escape the authorities. In order to avoid these criminals, you must be well equipped on how to protect yourself from ransomware.
A Ransomware Can Tamper Your Files
Another reason why you should know how to protect yourself from ransomware is that it can tamper your data inside the computer. A ransomware is capable of changing the extension files of your data and it can scramble the file names. This way, the victim will get confused about which files are infected with the malware. A modified extension file is a good indication of a ransomware infection. Sometimes, you will also know what strains of a ransomware is in your computer through the extension file name of your data.
A Ransomware Can Encrypt All Your Files
The last thing that a ransomware can do to your computer is to encrypt your important data. You probably don’t want to encounter this kind of problem in the future, so making steps on how to protect yourself from ransomware is vital in securing your system. You should take note that a ransomware is very dangerous because it can encrypt all kinds of files inside your computer, it can encrypt a photo, a video, a document and an audio file. You should make sure that you protect yourself from ransomware to avoid this problem and lost your files permanently.
You will never know what may happen once a ransomware entered your computer. Therefore it is important to protect yourself from ransomware and avoid it from entering your system. There are several ways on how you can protect yourself from ransomware, but the easiest to do is to install a security software like the Xcitium Advanced Endpoint Protection that will help you protect yourself from ransomware and just in case there is an intrusion, it can mitigate the problem by deleting any ransomware in your system. Download a free copy today!
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