This week we have seen a number of businesses infected with ransomware.
A virus that can take a hold of your data, encrypt it so it cannot be accessed and then hold it to ransom until you pay large sums of money.
There is no guarantee that paying the ransom amount will give you access back to you data. In many cases the data is destroyed.
These cyber terrorists care about nothing but their personal financial gain, destroying your business does not bother them.
How do you get ransomware?
The viruses appear to be arriving via email attachments. We have confirmed emails claiming to be from Australia Post, Apple iTunes and major Australian banks contain viruses. DO NOT open any email from these or other organisations that you are not expecting.
In addition, if any suspect emails arrive with links to websites, hover your mouse over the link and see is its taking you to the legitimate website you are expecting. Eg. Goog.lecom is not the same as Google.com.
How to protect yourself
The best way to protect your business from these attacks is to have multiple backups of your data.
It is possible for ransomware to infect your backups too. It is vital to have an offsite/offline or securely disconnected backup of your data in order to be safe from ransomeware.
How do I know if I’ve been infected?
If you do get a popup on your PC informing you are you infected with something called Cryptolocker, TorrentLocker or any other piece of malware do the following immediately:
• Unplug your PC from the network
• Shut the PC down
• Call us.
It’s possible by this point some or all the damage has been done or has infected other PCs. You can also take the extra precaution of shutting down all the PCs on the network and turn off your network switch.
Please see the link below for some more information about the current Torrentlocker causing havoc in Australia.
If you are experiencing any issues with ransomware, viruses or want to ensure your backup system is safe, please contact Phillips IT on (02) 8262 9900 or atinfo@phillipsit.com