What’s ransomware?
Ransomware is malicious software designed to make your computer inaccessible by encrypting all of the files and holding them hostage. If your computer is connected to a network, it will usually try to spread to any other computers on the network and infect their files too. The only way to decrypt your files is by paying a ransom and retrieving a decryption key. About 40% of the time, this works to get some/all of your files back, meaning 60% of the time, people decide to pay the ransom, they still don’t get their files back. Many companies choose to go to their backups instead of paying ransom, which will take some time, but is a safer option to ensure you get access back to your files. That’s assuming you have a backup, and assuming your backup is offsite and offline and didn’t get encrypted by the ransomware. The other trend with ransomware is that it’s not only encrypting the data, it’s also making a copy of all the data and sending it offsite to the hackers. So not only is your data encrypted and you can’t access it, they also have a copy of it, meaning they can demand a ransom to unlock your files AND a ransom to return the files they stole or at least agree not to sell the information or disclose it publicly.
Want More Resources on This Topic?
[formidable id=10]
What's ransomware?
Ransomware is malicious software designed to make your computer inaccessible by encrypting all of the files and holding them hostage. If your computer is connected to a network, it will usually try to spread to any other computers on the network and infect their files too. The only way to decrypt your files is by paying a ransom and retrieving a decryption key. About 40% of the time, this works to get some/all of your files back, meaning 60% of the time, people decide to pay the ransom, they still don’t get their files back. Many companies choose to go to their backups instead of paying ransom, which will take some time, but is a safer option to ensure you get access back to your files. That’s assuming you have a backup, and assuming your backup is offsite and offline and didn’t get encrypted by the ransomware. The other trend with ransomware is that it’s not only encrypting the data, it’s also making a copy of all the data and sending it offsite to the hackers. So not only is your data encrypted and you can’t access it, they also have a copy of it, meaning they can demand a ransom to unlock your files AND a ransom to return the files they stole or at least agree not to sell the information or disclose it publicly.
