What is Ransomware and How to Protect Yourself From it?

What is Ransomware?

Ransomware is a malware, a malicious program that prevent access to the infected device by locking the system or encrypting the user’s personal files. These files may include documents, archives, images and any other content stored on the hard disk. Ransomware often manage to penetrate the system through e-mails containing links which, once opened, infect the systems of the unfortunate and also spread to any other PCs and / or servers on the network.

How Does Ransomware Spread?

Normally, this type of malware spreads as a Trojan. It penetrates the device by taking advantage of a system’s vulnerability, through an email containing a link or attachment, the browser or a file downloaded by the user. The threat is very often hidden within e-mails considered “reliable”. These emails seems to be coming from suppliers or couriers, with whom the recipient can reasonably have daily business relationships.
Notices of delivery of materials by couriers and payment reminders for business users, containing links or attachments containing the threat, are just some of the most recent examples of infection methods.
There are many users who, often unwillingly, fall into the trap causing huge economic damage to the companies where they work. CryptoLocker, a type of Ransomware, with this tactic, managed to extort more than $3 million from innocent victims.

How to protect yourself from Ransomware?

1) ANTISPAM AND ANTIVIRUS: PROTECT YOUR PC

Investing in system security is the first fundamental (and necessary) step to defend against this type of attack. If you want to protect yourself from this type of cyber threat, make sure that all software on your PC is up to date, including the operating system, browser, and all toolbar plugins. At the same time, make sure that antivirus and anti-spam protection is up-to-date to the latest version, opt for secure passwords (and change them often), lock PCs when they are not in use and activate extraordinary security measures in case of remote access .
The second step you need to take is to equip your PC with additional and specific precautionary measures, making use of advanced security software to block known payloads (payloads are a kind of pop-up or lock screen in which it is intimated the user to pay the ransom to restore the system or unlock the files) prior to their execution. This is because antivirus programs are not always able to detect Ransomware payloads in time or to recognize them while encryption is already in progress (in order to block it).
There are countless versions of Ransomware, further ramifications of the original program or updated variants. CryptoLocker, TeslaCrypt and CoinVault are the most common malware. The cybercriminals have very high skills in the field of computer programming and make advanced changes to the code on a daily basis in order to prevent detection by the most modern security systems.

2) LEARN TO RECOGNIZE RANSOMWARE

To defeat an enemy, one must first of all learn to know them well.
If you want your critical data to be truly protected, make sure all staff receives advanced cybersecurity training. All your employees must be aware of the risks related to IT security (security risk assessment) and be able to quickly and accurately report any suspicious emails or abnormal behavior of their PC. This will allow technicians to intervene immediately in a targeted manner in the event of a cyber threat.
Ransomware is created by scammers with very high knowledge in the field of computer programming. In reality, however, their way of infiltrating the PC is very trivial: through the browser, by accessing a specific website or by attaching an infected email. The classic case, as mentioned above, is that of the user who receives an email from a known sender (eg. Amazon or Paypal), in which the users are asked to click on a link or download an attachment.
Learning to identify (and distinguish) this type of malware and the ways in which they operate is therefore essential to be able to defend yourself, being careful during the daily use of your device not to fall into the traps of virtual criminals.

3) MAKE A BACKUP OF FILES AND APPLICATIONS

For your company to be truly safe, it must have a Backup and a Disaster Recovery Plan. The saving of data and applications must comply with the 3-2-1 backup rule and, for further safety; it must have a rather large history (data retention): if you only had the backup of the day before and you became aware of its presence of the Ransomware after a few days, the backup could no longer help.
By being able to restore all your data at any time, wherever you are, up to twelve months back in time (data retention), your company will never have reason to give in to ransomware extortion attempts. The racket finds its strength in the situation of weakness in which the victim finds himself: the impossibility of accessing data without paying. When the data is not (and never will be) in danger, the same cyber threat disappears;
By making an online backup in the Cloud your data and applications will be safe; you will never risk losing them. Your business is protected because the information on which it is based will always be available, whatever the cyber threat to their survival;
Your company will not risk the stoppage of activities, risking to waste time and money (not to mention the responsibilities towards your customers in the event of loss or damage to legal and financial documents, or even violations of the right to privacy of the subjects Interested).