Top 7 Internet Safety Rules

It’s the first day of summer and the sun is shining high. But don’t get too comfortable, because hacking season is always in full swing.

Ransomware encrypts and locks the files that are most precious to you. So don’t leave them vulnerable. Backing them up is a good strategy. Take advantage of the free storage provided by Box, OneDrive, Google Drive, and others, and back up your data frequently. Beware though—your cloud service may back up infected files if you don’t act quickly enough. Investing in an external hard drive is a good option.

Attacked? Don’t Panic.

Your first move should be to contact the authorities, including the police and the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center. Then ascertain the scope of the problem by going through your directories and determining which of your user files is infected. If you do find documents that have odd extension names, try changing them back—some ransomware users “fake” encryption, which merely changes the file names without actually encrypting them.

The next step is identification and removal. If you have a paid anti-malware solution, scan your hard drive and try contacting your vendor’s tech support and help forums. Another excellent resource is NoMoreRansom.com’s Crypto-Sheriff, a collection of resources and ransomware uninstallers from Intel, Interpol, and Kaspersky Lab that can help you identify and begin eradicating the ransomware from your system with free removal tools.

If valuable business data is at risk, engage experienced IT experts from organizations such as Charter Global, to assess the health of your systems and implement more secure technology solutions.

Preventative Action: 7 Tips for your Digital Safety

Maintaining healthy digital habits and common sense practices can help mitigate your exposure to malware and ransomware.

1. Keep your PC up to date via Windows Update. Some programs won’t even attack Windows 10, choosing instead Windows XP and older Windows operating systems.
2. Ensure you have an active firewall and anti-malware solution in place. Windows Firewall and Windows Defender are barely adequate, and a good third-party anti-malware solution is far better.
3. Don’t rely on antimalware to save you, however. Experts at RSA say that antivirus companies are just getting around to addressing ransomware, and their protection isn’t guaranteed.
4. Ensure that Adobe Flash is turned off, or surf with a browser, like Google Chrome, that turns it off by default.
5. Turn off Office macros, if they’re enabled. In Office 2016, you can ensure they’re off from the Trust Center > Macro Settings, or just type “macros” in the search box at the top, then open the “Security” box.
6. Don’t open questionable links, either on a webpage or especially in an email. The most common way you’ll encounter ransomware is by clicking on a bad link. Worse still, about two-thirds of the infections tracked were on more than one machine, implying that infected users forwarded the link and exposed more people.
7. Likewise, stay out of the bad corners of the Internet. A bad ad on a legitimate site can still inject malware if you’re not careful, but the risks increase if you’re surfing where you shouldn’t.