It's all in the news and the web. People and businesses getting infected by ransomware and losing all their data unless they pay the ransom, which can exceed $1,000. Unfortunately once you're infected there's not much you can do except restore from backups (assuming you have off-site backups available to restore from). Luckily it's easy to protect yourself from falling victim to these ransomware scares.
- Do NOT open e-mails and e-mail attachments unless you are 150% sure you know the sender and you're 200% sure the file is safe. Whatever you do, do NOT open .exe files from any e-mail
- Do NOT visit unfamiliar websites.
- Avoid clicking advertisements on sites. They can be infected ads, called malvertising.
- Run up-to-date antivirus protection
- Keep software and Windows/OS updated
- Back up your data! It can not be said enough, back up your data. Backups are the #1 tool against ransomware. Have them offsite, in the cloud... anywhere that is not on your computer.
- Security gurus and researches say to not pay the ransom no matter what. We at PCHF advise not paying either, but ultimately the decision lies with you.