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I got a phone call about 10 days ago, from a person claiming that my computer has a serious breach and that I should hire him!(For anyone not getting this, the Samaritan would have no legal way of knowing if my computer has a breaches in it). It made me laugh, but also got me extremely curious. What is the end game and What are they trying to get, so I did some research. It turns out for a while now, hackers have found a new strategy. Its called Ransomware! Hackers are now taking over your computer and telling you it will cost you thousands of dollars to get it back! Which means it is time again to talk about digital protection
There are many articles out there, like the Computerworld, that talks about Ransomware and its seriousness. The fact is its out there so lets talk about preventing it and saying no to the ransom.
- Links- Do Not click on links, unless you know who they are from and you were expecting the link. This includes links in emails, Facebook posts, Twitter posts and even you SMS on your phone!
- Phone Calls- Understand that criminals are creative and they will even call you and say they can help. Giving someone you dont know or who has not been recommended to you is never a good idea. As with links always verify and confirm it is a trustworthy source! If it is not, do not give information or access to your computer to these people
- Protect your computer- Having a virus checker or security tool. These are great to have and you shouldn’t have to pay much to get these on your computer. Windows Security essentials and AVG are just 2 examples.
- Back up your Data- Most people encourage you have a local backup(on DVD or external drive) and a backup offsite. To be honest I just backup offsite using cloud storage. What I like about most a cloud storage backup solution is its simple and it backs up for you automatically.
Extra note. These strategies goes for all computers, PC,Apple, Linux,Google and smartphones. All computers are vulnerable and your data is way too important and, as far as criminal are concerns, valuable. Spend some time and protect yourself against the worse!