Main Area and Open Discussion > Living Room

Be prepared against ransomware viruses..

(1/15) > >>

mouser:
I got a call a couple of days ago from a relative in a panic -- all of their documents, images, etc. suddenly had new random file extensions and could not be opened.  Did I know what had happened and how to fix it?

Unfortunately it was all too obvious what had happened and there was no easy fix.

They had fallen victim to a ransomware virus -- some variant of CBT, and the only real way to recover the files was to pay the criminals (they wanted ~ $600 USD) to provide a password to decrypt the files.

What made this attack particularly damaging is that this relative, who is pretty computer savvy and a heavy pc user, had a bunch of additional hard drives connected to the pc -- a few backup drives, some download archive drives, etc.

And the virus encrypted everything on all drives. Ouch.


And that's what brings me to this post.

Many of us who perform frequent backups may get lazy and leave our backup drives (with backup drive images, document backups, etc.) connect for prolonged periods.

This is a huge risk when it comes to things like viruses/trojans/ransomware.

While there are lots of things you can do to protect yourself from being attacked, one thing all of us who regularly make backups should do is keep external backup drives DISCONNECTED except when being used to update our backups.

x16wda:
...and at today's prices, it's nice if you can rotate between an on site and off site copy (if you can, for example, leave a backup drive at the office or at your storage unit  :P)

tomos:
... there are lots of things you can do to protect yourself from being attacked ...
-mouser (June 26, 2015, 06:48 PM)
--- End quote ---

anyone got tips there?

A year of two ago, I got rid of one of the more basic ransomware viruses for a friend (it didnt encrypt any files). He had one of the better rated antivirus security suites installed but it wasnt able to stop it.
Afterwards I uninstalled Java from my desktop pc as a security measure - but have lately reinstalled it.

The tip of keeping external HDDs disconnected is a good one, and easy to do.

IainB:
@mouser: What virus and/or malware protection did your relative have on his/her PC?

TaoPhoenix:
... there are lots of things you can do to protect yourself from being attacked ...
-mouser (June 26, 2015, 06:48 PM)
--- End quote ---

anyone got tips there?

A year of two ago, I got rid of one of the more basic ransomware viruses for a friend (it didnt encrypt any files). He had one of the better rated antivirus security suites installed but it wasnt able to stop it.
Afterwards I uninstalled Java from my desktop pc as a security measure - but have lately reinstalled it.

The tip of keeping external HDDs disconnected is a good one, and easy to do.
-tomos (June 27, 2015, 06:01 AM)
--- End quote ---

People keep saying they "uninstall Java", but then when I do stuff like that now and then (I can't remember very many specific examples at the moment) specific things say they need Java, so I have to put it back.

My fuzzy memory is suggesting that Netflix needs it... (?)

The alternate version of the tip I tried to use was to disable Java, but then months later couldn't figure out why something wasn't working, and forgot that until some sleuthing with a guy figured it out and we turned it back on. (But it was "silent non-working errors, with no clear clues).

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page