What should I do if I have ransomware?

I will start by explaining what is a ransomware virus, it is a type of malware a virus that affects the files that you have on a computer encrypting the files. The malicious users who have your information demand the user to pay to recover the data, this can be called a cyber hijacking of data. The method in which these malicious users annihilate this information, is by means of attached files that are infected, these arrive to our emails, it is enough to open them so that the files are automatically downloaded to your computer. These files are obviously created by the malicious user, by means of them they obtain the key that encrypts the content of the hard disk, to the folders they add passwords in this way is how they encrypt the content of your documents on your computer, which also generates the blocking of the entire computer by this malware. Once our computer is infected, the ransomware virus begins to act with the mentioned case, giving the cybercriminal the possibility to obtain our documents and block the device from a remote connection encrypting all the information leaving us without control of our computer.

What other ways are there to get Ransomware?

In the same way it is likely that you will receive emails from the police requesting payment of fines for having visited illegal websites, this is a way to fall into the ransomware virus, you will never receive emails from the police to pay fines or from banks. Also ransomware viruses can be hidden in videos from pages of dubious origin and by downloading programs or system updates. This type of malware is masked in infected attachments and e-mails from companies that are legitimate or of unknown origin.

Malicious users have two ways to block your data, the first way is that they take over the system without encrypting data, this malware disables the task manager shields access to the registry and infects the computer files, this makes some icons disappear and prevents access to some programs. The other way is by encrypting the computer's data and folders with hard-to-crack codes, which affects the system files. It is advisable not to pay these cyber thieves as it is very unlikely that they will return your information. If a company is affected by the ransomware virus, the company will be forced to completely stop the service, in this case the server where the mail services are hosted. This can take a long time since not only the company's information but also the consumers' data has to be recovered. Companies are greatly affected when a user is harmed by the ransomware virus, because if only one user is a victim of this virus, the mail provider must pause its server for a while while the generated virus is solved.

How can I prevent ransomware?

It is important that you keep your computer's operating system updated along with the programs you have installed, it is essential to install an antivirus and anti-malware program. These two programs will do the work for you, they will warn you when you enter a malicious page or when a file you download may contain a virus. Maintaining and backing up your most important files frequently is very convenient.

You should avoid opening emails with infected files that are from unknown senders, always keep in mind that there are emails that supposedly are from legitimate companies, but not continuously there are failures in the addresses of these emails, you will see that not all of them are correct. Be careful when entering pages that are not verified or with certificate SSL, remember that these pages contain virus that are downloaded to your computer generating what I have been speaking in this article. Keep in mind that there are SSL certificates that help protect emails and encrypt this information, I will leave below some links for you to keep in mind the ways and preventions of email spoofing.     HERE you can see our article on mail spoofing and the importance of having SSL certificate HERE You can view the SSL certificate plans that ClickPanda offers HERE   You can leave us your opinion in the comments box, we like to know what you think about these topics and about us. Visit www.clickpanda.com for more information about us.