Hooded hacker performing ransomware attack

How To Avoid Being Attacked by Ransomware

Ransomware has been in the news lately and it is due to all the impacts it has had on people’s computers. If you are afraid you might be the next victim of this kind of virus, you should implement some of the strategies to avoid being attacked by ransomware on your machines.

This guide takes a look at how you can reduce the chances of being a victim of a ransomware attack, and what you can do if ransomware has already affected your computer.

How to minimize the chances of a ransomware attack

There are a few precautionary steps you can take to ensure there is minimal chance of a ransomware attacking your computer. Those precautions are as follows.

Tip 1. Spread knowledge about ransomware

One of the easiest things you can do to reduce the possibility of a ransomware attacking your computers is to spread the knowledge about this virus with your colleagues. Since this is not a typical virus, there are many users who have no clue how this virus infects a computer and what damage it can do.

You can share the information you have about this virus with your colleagues and friends. Once they know the impact of this virus, they will try and protect their data and this in turn will keep you protected as well. It is a win-win situation for everyone, except for the one who spreads the ransomware.

Tip 2. Avoid suspicious emails and files

Ransomware usually spreads by emails and malicious files. Therefore, if you ever receive an email from someone who you do not know, try not to open the email. Also, if you have received any attachments in the email, do not even try to download them to your computer. These files can have the malicious code in them to infect your computer with ransomware.

Also, while downloading files from the Internet, make sure that you only download from the legitimate websites. Do not use any shady sites to download content as these sites often indirectly push various kinds of viruses to your computers.

Tip 3. Turn antivirus and firewall on

The role of an antivirus program is to keep your computer protected from many kinds of viruses, including ransomware. Many antivirus developers have updated their programs to ensure these programs can detect and stop the spread of ransomware on your computers.

Get a good quality antivirus software for your computer and keep it enabled all the time.

Windows Security

Another thing you need to look into is your computer’s firewall. Make sure you have enabled your firewall as this prevents unwanted network connections from being established on your machine. This should stop the spread of ransomware to some extent.

Tip 4. Turn remote protocols off

A remote protocol is basically a protocol that allows remote computers to access your machine. You might have enabled this feature on your computer so that other users can access your computer remotely. However, this allows ransomware to spread quickly as your computer is just a few clicks away from being accessed from a remote machine.

On Windows computers, you should disable the Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) feature so that your machine is safe from any remote actions. On macOS, you can enable and disable various remote connection options from the preferences panel.

Tip 5. Control access rights

One reason ransomware is able to attack your files is that it has access to your files. Unfortunately, most of us use our computers with the admin access even though we do not really need that many privileges. One way to reduce the risk of being attacked by a ransomware attack is to use your account with minimum privileges.

Change Account Type

This way, even if your computer is attacked, your machine will not give ransomware the permissions to access and edit your files. Your data will remain safe and secure.

You can make this privilege change from the settings menu on your computers.

Tip 6. Back up important data

Last but not least – you should back up all your important files saved on your computer. No matter the reason for data loss, if you have a backup, you can restore your files on your computer or on any other device whenever you want.

This way, if your computer is attacked and you end up losing your data, you can use your backup to gain access to all your important files. These days, most computers come with both built-in as well as third-party backup methods to help you create safe copies of your data.

What to do if you lose data in a ransomware attack

If the worst comes to the worst and you end up losing your important data, the first thing you need to do is look into your backups and extract and recover the files you need.

Here are two ways to restore lost data on your computer.

Tip 1. Restore the data from the backup

If you made a backup prior to getting attacked by ransomware, you should look into that backup and try to restore files from it. Depending on what method you used to create the backup, you will need to either use one of the built-in tools on your computer or use a third-party backup app to restore your data.

Control Panel

If your computer remains infected with ransomware, you should recover your files on your other devices and not on the infected one.

Tip 2. Use EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard to restore your lost data

In case you did not make a backup prior to getting infected by ransomware, you do not need to panic as there are still ways to get your lost files back.

There is a tool called EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard that allows you to recover files even if you do not have a backup on your computers. You can utilize this tool to find and recover many types of files like video recovery on your computer.

EaseUS

The tool offers several features including the ability to scan your chosen drive for recovery, filter your files by types, preview your files, and recover files in a single click.

The bottom line

It is a really costly affair to be infected with ransomware. Therefore, try and implement the security precautions outlined above, and you will greatly reduce the chance of being attacked by a ransomware attack.

 

Staff Writer at CPO Magazine