Ransomware is about the worst thing to ever happened to computers. I can think of nothing worse.
What is Ransomware? This is a nasty program that encrypts your files and then charges you money to get your files back. The last one I dealt with wanted $2500. Antivirus is little help since antivirus really only protects you from known threats. Ransomware changes itself so often, it is almost impossible to to keep up with. Companies like Bitdefender and Malwarebytes are working on programs to try and detect these new threats but it is still to early to tell if they are effective.
There is only one sure way to protect yourself from Ransomware: Backup!
You need a backup anyway. It is the smart thing to do to protect from hard drive failure. But now it is even more crucial. In the past the ransomware only encrypted things like Word documents and pictures. Now it actively seeks out local backup files and encrypts them as well. So if you have an external hard drive connected to your computer, the data on that could be lost too. Offsite backup is your only solutions from ransomware.
We recommend local and offsite backups. The problem with offsite back is that it takes too long to download your files. Local backup usually only takes a few minutes to restore your files depending on the amount of data. But if you can only pick one type of backup, pick offsite just to protect you from ransomware.
Ingram Computers can help you with a backup strategy to protect you from Ransomware. Call us for a free consultation.
