{"id":263,"date":"2020-07-27T12:08:12","date_gmt":"2020-07-27T11:08:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.itminister.co.uk\/blog\/?p=263"},"modified":"2020-07-27T12:08:12","modified_gmt":"2020-07-27T11:08:12","slug":"how-to-prevent-a-ransomware-attack","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.itminister.co.uk\/blog\/how-to-prevent-a-ransomware-attack\/","title":{"rendered":"How to prevent a ransomware attack?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
  1. Back-up! Back-up! Back-up!<\/strong> Have a recovery system in place so a ransomware infection can\u2019t destroy your personal data forever. It\u2019s best to create two back-up copies: one to be stored in the cloud (remember to use a service that makes an automatic backup of your files) and one to store physically (portable hard drive, thumb drive, extra laptop, etc.). Disconnect these from your computer when you are done. Your back up copies will also come in handy should you accidentally delete a critical file or experience a hard drive failure.<\/li>
  2. Use robust antivirus software<\/strong> to protect your system from ransomware. Do not switch off the \u2018heuristic functions\u2019 as these help the solution to catch samples of ransomware that have not yet been formally detected.<\/li>
  3. Keep all the software on your computer up to date.<\/strong> When your operating system (OS) or applications release a new version, install it. And if the software offers the option of automatic updating, take it.<\/li>
  4. Trust no one. Literally.<\/strong> Any account can be compromised and malicious links can be sent from the accounts of friends on social media, colleagues or an online gaming<\/a> partner. Never open attachments in emails from someone you don\u2019t know. Cybercriminals often distribute fake email messages that look very much like email notifications from an online store, a bank, the police, a court or a tax collection agency, luring recipients into clicking on a malicious link and releasing the malware into their system.<\/li>
  5. Enable the \u2018Show file extensions\u2019 option in the Windows settings on your computer.<\/strong> This will make it much easier to spot potentially malicious files. Stay away from file extensions like \u2018.exe\u2019, \u2018.vbs\u2019 and \u2018.scr\u2019. Scammers can use several extensions to disguise a malicious file as a video, photo, or document (like hot-chics.avi.exe or doc.scr).<\/li>
  6. If you discover a rogue or unknown process on your machine, disconnect it immediately from the internet or other network connections (such as home Wi-Fi)<\/strong> \u2014 this will prevent the infection from spreading.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    iTM covers all aspects of cybersecurity from Home cyber security managed solutions to automated, manage threat intelligence, forensic investigations and cyber security training. Our objective is to support organisations and consumers at every step of their cyber maturity journey. Contact Us<\/a> for more information.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Back-up! Back-up! Back-up! Have a recovery system in place so a ransomware infection can\u2019t destroy your personal data forever. It\u2019s best to create two back-up copies: one to be stored in the cloud (remember to use a service that makes an automatic backup of your files) and one to store physically (portable hard drive, thumb … <\/p>\n

    Continue reading “How to prevent a ransomware attack?”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","beyondwords_generate_audio":"","beyondwords_integration_method":"","beyondwords_project_id":"","beyondwords_content_id":"","beyondwords_preview_token":"","beyondwords_player_content":"","beyondwords_player_style":"","beyondwords_language_code":"","beyondwords_language_id":"","beyondwords_title_voice_id":"","beyondwords_body_voice_id":"","beyondwords_summary_voice_id":"","beyondwords_error_message":"","beyondwords_disabled":"","beyondwords_delete_content":"","beyondwords_podcast_id":"","beyondwords_hash":"","publish_post_to_speechkit":"","speechkit_hash":"","speechkit_generate_audio":"","speechkit_project_id":"","speechkit_podcast_id":"","speechkit_error_message":"","speechkit_disabled":"","speechkit_access_key":"","speechkit_error":"","speechkit_info":"","speechkit_response":"","speechkit_retries":"","speechkit_status":"","speechkit_updated_at":"","_speechkit_link":"","_speechkit_text":""},"categories":[18,19,10,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-263","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cyber-security-best-practice","category-home-cyber-security","category-ransomware","category-training"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.itminister.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.itminister.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.itminister.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itminister.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itminister.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=263"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.itminister.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":264,"href":"https:\/\/www.itminister.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263\/revisions\/264"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.itminister.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=263"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itminister.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=263"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itminister.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=263"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}