Expert Tips to Avoid becoming a victim of Ransomware

How to avoid being a victim of Ransomware!

The use of internet is increasing at a fast pace, opening large number of doors for the internet monsters. Big organisations and government agencies are moving towards a digitized world which leads to greater risk for them, making them vulnerable to cyber attacks. Survey shows that an increased number of ransomware attacks have been taking place over the past few years. Such incidents display a clear trend that malware attackers are steadily shifting to serious money making through ransomware attacks. Ransomware is seen to be a highly money making mechanism over the last few years.

Big businesses and local governments have been the recent targets of ransomware and are expected to be targeted in the future. Also, everyday users of the internet like us are also targets of ransomware. Most of our sensitive data is stored on our PCs that can be traced by these cyber criminals who use it in order to blackmail users and demand for ransom in order to get back your data.

At REVE Antivirus, users are proactive to protect themselves from threats rather than being a target of these cybercriminals and agreeing to all their terms. Criminals are looking for new ways to get into the wallets of hard working folks. What should users do to make sure that they do not become a victim of ransomware? Follow these simple tips to protect yourself against ransomware:

BACKUP AND KEEP DATA SECURE

We live in a computerized age where we are putting away everything from our personal documents to professional ones over our devices. If anything happens with your device, you will lose all your data. Thus it is important that you store your data on the cloud so that it can be retrieved even if you lose it. To be a little safer, make sure to save all your important data on external drives as well like USB drives, hard drives etc.  In case of ransomware, securing your data offline is extremely important.

Update Regularly

Do you often get pop up messages giving you update notifications but you hardly pay attention to them? Then be active and make this as your priority. Regular system update is very important if you want to keep your sensitive data secure. These updates help you to get rid of vulnerabilities that are found on your system. At times, it seems to be a pain to install the latest windows update. But neglecting them can result in your system being vulnerable to attackers who look to destroy it completely and provide maximum harm.

Have a security Software

Installing good antivirus software helps you to keep your PC protected from all kinds of malicious threats such as worms, virus and Trojans. Antivirus software comes up with high end solutions such as advanced scan engine, parental control, websecurity and more. When a type of ransomware is found in your system and you have an antivirus software installed in your PC, it can stop you from clicking a link or opening up a malicious file that it detects. Mobile phones could be more at danger given the amount of personal information that is stored in it.

Disconnect from Wi-Fi or unplug immediately

Many a times you suspect a file to have ransomware present, but you are not sure about it. The best way to protect yourself is to disconnect yourself from the network immediately this might mitigate the damage. It takes a lot of time to encrypt your files, so you may be able to stop it before it succeeds in damaging them completely. This technique is not seen to be completely secure or you may not be fortunate enough to move more rapidly in protecting your data than the malware, however disconnecting from the network might be a much better option rather than doing nothing at all.

Ransomware certainly is seen to be very frightening, but related to it, there are many problems that can cause a lot of destruction. Thus it is always the best practice to protect oneself against loss of data with regular backups. This way, no matter what happens you will not be losing your sensitive data and can start it all back as before. Thus, the best way to fight against ransomware is to act as an active internet user and enhance your knowledge about it and keep yourself away from becoming a target.