Not too long ago, the WannaCry ransomware attack was all over the news, infecting over 400,000 computers. The threat was fairly straightforward: Pay us or we’ll erase your files.
Ransomware, like the WannaCry attack, works by encrypting your files to prevent you from using or accessing them. After your files are compromised, the hackers behind the attack then pop up a demand screen asking for payment within a set time frame (e.g., 72 hours, three days, etc.) in order to get the key to decrypt your files. WannaCry forced many business owners to lose data or pay up since there was no other way to decrypt the files – and many paid without getting their files back.
Obviously, the best way to foil a ransomware attack is to be incredibly diligent about IT security; but with hundreds of thousands of new attacks being created daily, there are no guarantees that you won’t get infected. Therefore, it’s critical to maintain a full, daily backup of your data so you never have to pay the ransom – AND your backup needs to be a professional-grade backup that is impervious to ransomware since hackers write their attacks to infect BOTH your PC/server AND your backups.
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