After the WannaCry Ransomware affected 105 countries, this piece of information is essential.
Ransom is a price demanded for the release of a captive. The term ransomware has evolved from this. Ransomware is a malicious software that blocks your access to data until a certain amount of ransom is paid. It displays a message that demands payment to unlock it. Ransomware attacks are carried out by a trojan, which is a program that makes the data vulnerable or deletes the data.
Ransomware is a denial-of-access attack i.e. it blocks the user from using the computer’s data. In technical terms, it encrypts the data and denies its decryption until a fixed amount is paid. It is also known as cryptoviral extortion.
There are two types of ransomware:-
1.Lockscreen ransomware: It displays a full-screen message demanding money, and prevents you from accessing your PC or files.
2.Encryption ransomware: This malicious software resides in your PC and changes your files. It does this by encrypting the files into some other format that needs deciphering and decrypting of a different standard.
Several ways to counter ransomware are:-
Show full file extensions
If you enable the hidden file extensions, it will be easy to detect suspicious files and you can counter them accordingly.
Disable Remote Desktop Protocol
Through remote desktop connections, anyone can connect to your computer and access it remotely, if you disable this facility, you can protect the machine from File Coder and malicious ransomware.
Back up data
When a ransomware attacks, it block access to data or deletes files, but if you have a backup of your data, you can restore it into your system. Thus, when it attacks you can reset your system and have a backup of it. The key is having a regular backup of data to some external device or cloud, which is not connected to your drives.
Use a crypto locker prevention kit
This helps in disabling the executable files from running from the Temp directory of various unzipping utilities. You should always make sure that you have the latest version for the tool, as they keep updating the tools.
Use a security suite
If you face threats of a ransomware or malware, use an anti-malware software for your security purposes. Along with this, you should always consider using a firewall, as both layers of securities will prevent malware from penetrating into your system.
5 Software tools for protecting against Ransomware in 2017:-
- BitDefender Antivirus plus 2017
- Panda Internet Security 2017
- Trend Micro Anti-virus plus 2017
- Acronis True Image 2017
- Iobit Malware Fighter 5 Pro 2017