Don’t WannaCry? 5 easy tips to protect yourself from ransomware
RT.com
13 May, 2017
An aggressive new strain of ransomware is shutting down Windows operating computers all over the world. Although the virus known as WannaCry has already infected over 75,000 PCs in 99 countries, it is actually not that hard to secure your digital data.
Trends
The latest ransomware employs asymmetric encryption to hold the target’s information for ransom, using a pair of keys uniquely generated by the attacker for the victim. The attacker makes the private key available to the victim only after the ransom is paid – or very likely does not.
Here are some easy steps to protect your machine and secure your files from falling hostage to online scammers.
#0 Patch!
Security experts advise to install the Microsoft fix—MS17-010—right away. Following the installation, make sure to reboot the system.
The patch that closes the backdoor used by WannaCry to penetrate the system was released by Microsoft on March 14 – apparently shortly after the NSA became aware that its exploit has been stolen, and roughly a month before the Shadow Brokers hacking group exposed it to the world.
In general, patching your system and installing regular Microsoft updates should secure an average PC user from unwanted vulnerabilities.
#1 Beware!
Just as with many other ransomware, the virus can penetrate the system not only through a Windows vulnerability, but also through the “spray-‘n’-pray” phishing attack, which involves spamming users with emails that carry a malicious attachment. The attackers can also lure a victim to click on a URL where malware will be ready to crawl into your machine.
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