Five Steps to Strengthen your Ransomware Defence.

Five Steps to Strengthen your Ransomware Defence.

When you hear the word Ransomware, you may think of hackers that have locked down your files, folders, and emails with a demand of payments to regain access.

There have been countless examples of this type of attack over the years, with various levels of breaches, and mixed results upon ransom payment.

If you have been the victim of ransomware, you may have lost photos, documents, or other important files.

What are the five main steps to reduce your risk of a Ransomware attack?

Have a good Anti-Virus/Anti Malware programs running on your PC at all times.

So often we go out to fix a computer and find no form of security other than the vanilla Microsoft offer. Some say Microsoft has a sufficient anti-malware approach, but we don’t. Yes, Edge and Defender are better products than they used to be, but they still let in too many PUP’s or potentially unwanted programs. Try Malwarebytes or Bitdefender.

Train yourself.

Stray clicks on unknown links are the most common way for malicious software to find its way on your PC. When clicking on links in emails, look for the key factors to ensure the link it genuine. For example, look at the ‘from’ email address, look for spelling errors and hover your mouse pointer over the link, to see where it is taking you. (don’t click the links) Links on websites are more difficult to navigate, our best advice is to use trusted sources of information and be careful what you click. Be wary of ads as they may lead you to an untrusted source.

Have different passwords for all of your logins.

I know, it’s hard enough to remember one password. Passwords are commonly sniffed out by hackers by various methods. In fact, a hacker may not even need access to your computer to get hold of your password. An example of this was in 2013 when millions of LinkedIn passwords were exposed, along with email addresses and usernames. If you used the same email address and password for other services such as GMAIL or FACEBOOK, then you’re vulnerable.

Luckily there are password programs such as LastPass which are considered extremely safe, and only require you to remember one password.

Backups.

Ensure you have solid backup protocols. If you don’t have your data backed up, you are at risk of more than just ransomware. This year alone, we’ve done dozens of high-grade hard driver recoveries to retrieve data from failed drives. Ensuring you have local and/or cloud based backups, your data is much safer.

Join our scheduled maintenance program.

Melton Computers can provide a managed option where we can check the health of your computer or network daily and remotely. We monitor your computer to ensure updates are regularly installed, components are not overheating, manage other software, and update them as required.

Proactive management and preventive measures can often avoid costly downtime and major repairs

Melton Computers can help with all aspects of data retention and data loss recovery.

Consider servicing your computer like servicing your car. Avoid the breakdown.

If you would like to discuss any of these points, please give the team a call on 1800 234 124.