What is Ransomware.
Why is Ransomware ?
The Biggest Threat To your Computer ? And How Ransomware Helps !!
Ransomware .
Ransom = Money demanded in Return of a captured victim ;
Ware = Computer Software ;
Is a malware crafted To carry out this action ;
- A ransomware infection can cost its victim anywhere Between Rs 10000 to 6,00,000 ( $200 to $10000)
- A ransomware locks the Infected computer screen & make it completely in-accessible to user .
- It can also encrypt the infected computer file (convert the file into unreadable form , which can only read with the help of key )
- Demands a Ransom from victim and it can ask for money & if it is not paid then this information is deleted By hacker
How Does Ransomware Infected To Your Computer ?
A Ransomware can entered to your computer through many ways including :
- Visiting an infected site
- Clicking on malicious link
- Open an Infected mail attachment
- Through USB Drive
- Through unpatched security vulnerabilities.
Spread of Ransomware .
The method of infection varies for most viruses,
but ransomware is typically packaged with installation files
masquerading as official software updates. They are advertised as
updates for Adobe Acrobat, Java and Flash Player. If you’ve opened
underground websites such as torrent sites, you’ve probably come across
some of the ads used to distribute malware. Typically, a popup opens
telling you that you need to update Adobe Acrobat.
Several antivirus companies have come up with ways to remove the
virus, but that doesn’t decrypt the files. Unfortunately, you don’t have
many options unless you have backups of your data, but you can protect
your computer with some common sense.
First, don’t ever download from a site that tells you software on
your computer is outdated. Websites aren’t able to detect outdated
software unless you give the website permission to read your hard drive.
If you think your software needs an update, go to the official product
developer’s site and download it directly from there.
Next, always keep the latest antivirus definitions installed on your
computer to defend against all types of malware. The one main issue with
ransomware is that once you get infected, there is nothing you can do
to reverse the damage. It’s better to be proactive with antivirus
updates than wait until you’ve already become a victim.
Finally,
always keep backups of your files. Hackers know that most
people don’t keep backups. Even some businesses fail to keep regular
backups, and it’s a big mistake that usually leads to some kind of data
loss. Always keep regular backups in a
safe place. Note that you can’t
keep them on your
local hard drive, because these backups might also get
encrypted.
One safe place is keeping them in the cloud such as Google
Drive or Microsoft’s SkyDrive.
Some Anti-ransomware Tools Are -
1 ) BitDefender anti-ransomware
BitDefender’s tool is intended to act as a protection against being infected by CTB-Locker, Locky, Petya, and TeslaCrypt ransomware.
2 )Trend Micro Lock Screen Ransomware Tool
Trend Micro’s tool is designed to detect and rid a victim of 'lock screen' ransomware, a
type of malware that blocks users from accessing their PC or systems,
and like with all ransomware, attempts to force the victim to pay to get
their data back.
Trend Micro lays out two situations in which its tool will be effective. Firstly, when your PC's normal mode is blocked,
but its 'safe mode' is still accessible and secondly when lock screen
ransomware is blocking both 'normal mode' and 'safe mode'.
3 )Malwarebytes anti-ransomware (formerly CryptoMonitor)
Previously one of the most dedicated utilities out there,
CryptoMonitor was another real-time protection product that used two
techniques to do its job, ‘entrapment’ and ‘count protection’.
CryptoMonitor was acquired by Malwarebytes and was as a result renamed
Malwarebytes anti-ransomware. The idea is that it prevents ransomware from actually encrypting your computer's files in the first place.
Like many products listed Malwarebytes will run in the background and
monitor activity on your network to determine suspicious patterns.
4 ) Kaspersky anti-ransomware tool
Kaspersky's tool
is designed for small to medium sized businesses and like Bitdefender,
it comes with a tool to prevent ransomware attacks before they
demobilise your systems.
Kaspersky's anti-ransomware tool will run along in the background and monitor network activity for anything that matches known ransomware behaviour or patterns.
5 ) Kaspersky Lab decryptors
Kaspersky Lab hosts a wide range of decryptors claiming to decrypt
lots of nasty types of ransomware. We've listed them with the ransomware
they can decrypt. All listed are free and can be
downloaded here.
Rakhni Decryptor
Decrypts files affected by Rakhni, Agent.iih, Aura, Autoit,
Pletor, Rotor, Lamer, Cryptokluchen, Lortok, Democry, Bitman and Dharma
ransomware.
Rannoh Decryptor
Decrypts files affected by Rannoh, AutoIt, Fury, Cryakl, Crybola, CryptXXX (versions 1, 2 and 3) and Polyglot.
Wildfire Decryptor
Decripts file infected with Wildfire ransomware, which previously infected large groups in Holland and Belgium.
CoinVault decryptor
Created in cooperation with The National High Tech Crime Unit
(NHTCU) in the Netherlands, the CoinVault decryptor decrypts files
affected by CoinVault and Bitcryptor ransomware.
6 ) Avast anti-ransomware tools
Not all ransomware are the same or work in the same way. In fact, in
most cases, you'll have to find a decryptor that is specifically made
for a certain type of ransomware.
Avast provides 16, which are
listed here.
All of Avast's decryptors are free and check for viruses at the same time.
Additionally, Avast provides an installation and decryption
wizard. It will then ask you for two copies of your files, one encrypted
and one not in order to compare and determine the password. This is
much quicker if you've got backups, but if not Avast will recommend
locations on your system that uninfected files may be.
Keep Safe !!!
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