As Ransomware Continues to Rise Protect Your Business
Alex & Jakes Story
Lately a lot has been written in the papers and featured online about ransomware especially highlighting the dangers and costs which could hit your organisation if you were to be unlucky enough to fall victim. Due to this we wanted to give you a heads up on what you can do to prevent this virus and explain what we are doing behind the scenes.
Our Apprentices have put together this blog to emphasise preventive measures and give you an insight in to how they are helping to stop the virus hitting your business:
Alex’s Story
Recently I have been researching additional methods that we can use to protect us and our clients from ransomware attacks. Since having one layer of protection such as anti-virus is not enough for this emerging threat.
I wanted to find a method that we could implement on servers that could be used to aid in the protection of clients documents that are saved on the network. I wanted a solution that was seamless to the end user and would not interfere with their day to day activities. We also wanted to be altered when an attack was occurring as well as being able to pinpoint the location of the attack. The solution I came up with was to use a Windows Server application called File Service Resource Manger (FSRM) This tool can be used to manipulate file activity. Using FSRM I imported a list of common ransomware extensions for example Locky. Next I choose how FSRM reacted to these types of files this included blocking users from creating them and saving them as well as email alerts.
Jakes Story
Our apprentice Jake has put together some helpful tips to protect your files:
1. Never store banking passwords and usernames on your computer.
2. When creating online accounts always change your username and password the first time you use that online account.
3. Never open email attachments even if the email appears to come from an email address that you recognise.
4. Never trust the from address in an email . The from email address is easily faked and most email systems make no attempt to verify this email address is really from the alleged sender.
5. Never click on links, buttons or images in an email- no exceptions! If you need to visit a website after reading an email then type the website address into your web browser’s address bar.
6. Exercise extreme caution when visiting a website that you have been advised of in an advert by word-of-mouth or in a letter.
If you would like more information or advice on ransomware please give us a call 0845 319 4887* or alternatively drop us a email on our contact page and get clued up on cyber security.
* Calls will cost 5p per minute plus your phone company’s access charge.
