Every week seems to bring news of high profile cases of new ransom-ware attacks. Its nasty stuff; nasty enough that the US and Canadian authorities yesterday issued a rare joint cyber alert warning about the upsurge in attacks.
The plague doesn’t seem to be going away anytime soon. Enabling the ransom-ware plague is the fact that many businesses and individuals seem to be casual in their habits and unaware of the risks; sometimes over reliant on technical measures to provide safety.
I may be labouring the point (and please forgive me for this), but the advice remains the same:
- Ensure your antivirus is running. Be alert for warnings. Don’t cancel scans just because it is inconvenient or slowing you down
- If Windows is prompting to restart to apply updates; don’t delay
- If you suspect something odd is happening; report it
- Be VERY wary of email attachments, links in emails, websites you don’t know and software offered for free
- Educate your team on the risks; any system is only as strong as its weakest link
- If you havent got regular backups; get some. In the event of a ransomeware attack this may be your only route out of trouble
For those who haven’t already downloaded it, we have a free information sheet for staff available for download here (irony alert … but I can assure you it is safe)
Lindsey Hall
As both an entrepreneur and an IT specialist, Lindsey offers a blend of deep technical expertise and commercial insight, delivered in language business owners can really understand and trust. She works with clients to provide a full range of services from strategic advice through to project management and infrastructure support.
Lindsey is an accredited Cyber Essentials Consultant