Five Tips to Help You Protect Against a Ransomware Attack

Author: Mian Azar

Ransomware threats are quite real, and millions of computers have been infected in the past few years. Hackers are becoming more and more sophisticated with their attacks, and ransomware is actually one of the deadliest attacks that you might face. If you are not careful, you might end up losing all of your information in an instant. Basically, these programs end up encrypting all of the data in your computer, and you must pay a significant amount of money to the hacker before they give you a decryption key. Needless to say, you are unlikely to get control of your data back even if you pay. Here are five tips to help you gear up for a ransomware attack and protect yourself.

1. Install a Powerful Antivirus

There are some very big names in the industry for when it comes to data protection. You need to look for a powerful antivirus program and install it on your computer. If you have office information stored on these computers, you need to make sure that you choose a highly powerful antivirus program with updated definitions. This way, in case a ransomware attack targets your computer system, you will be able to protect yourself against it.

2. Update it Regularly

One of the most common errors that many people make is that they do not update their antivirus program regularly. You need to understand that hackers are going to come up with new and different means to enter your computer. If you haven’t updated your virus definitions in a long while, your computer is as exposed as ever. There is a reason why antivirus programs receive so many updates so frequently; as soon as a new threat is detected, the company updates its database so that your computer remains safe.

3. Set up a Powerful Firewall

A firewall is basically a protective tool that prevents your computer from being exposed to threats over the web. While the built-in firewall is alright, you should consider beefing it up by installing a more powerful one. This way, even if you stumble upon a malicious website, you will be able to save your computer because the firewall will prevent any unauthorized downloads on your computer.

4. Employ Content Filtering

If you have office servers that need protection, you need to install content filters and turn on scanning so that all of the emails that are received on the server are checked before they are sent to individual mailboxes. This is of vital importance because it will allow you to check the content on a separate server before the email is pushed out. This way, your main office servers will remain safe and secure.

5. Be Mindful

Last, but not least, you need to be a bit careful about what you download on your computer. You have to be careful, especially when downloading free programs. If something seems too good to be true, then you should err on the side of caution, and know that it probably is. Avoid downloading it! Speak to an ransomware expert like Cytelligence for more advanced tips.