Your daily dose of practical, easy to follow tech tips!
Ransomware is a type of virus that encrypts all the data on your computer’s hard drive or SSD and then demands that you pay a ransom to a hacker in exchange for the decryption key.
In other words, it holds your files and data hostage until you pony up the amount demanded for the ransom.
And the danger is very real. In fact, ransomware attacks are now one of the most common types of malware attacks being perpetrated on the public. [Read more…]
As you probably know by now, scams and viruses are constantly making the rounds on Facebook.
The latest threat is spreading like wildfire with the help of the ubiquitous Facebook Messenger app that runs on millions of smart phones and tablets.
Commonly known as “Locky Ransomeware”, this threat is especially bad because there’s no known decryption program available for unlocking a device once it has been encrypted. [Read more…]
If you’ve been keeping up with the news today you know that a new strain of ransomware is spreading across the globe as we speak.
Individuals and companies in virtually every country have already been crippled by the attack, and even some utilities have been shut down.
So far several countries in Europe have suffered the brunt of the attack, but the wave is spreading fast and headed for other parts of the world, including the United States. [Read more…]
Hello again! I hope you had a great week!
Well, the hackers and scammers of the world just never seem to let up.
In fact, this past week was a nightmare for the hundreds of thousands of institutions and individuals who were hit by the massive “WannaCry” ransomware attack.
Ransomware is perhaps the biggest threat facing computer users today, but it’s actually pretty easy to protect your PC from getting hit by it. And luckily, it’s even easier to ensure that you won’t lose your irreplaceable files if you do end up getting hit.
First, lets talk about some things you can do to protect your PC from ransomware attacks. [Read more…]
Like other forms of malware, ransomware constantly evolves to ensure that as many unsuspecting victims can be attacked as possible before the word gets out about the latest threat.
A new ransomware strain called Cerber is hitting people hard right now, and this one is especially insidious because many victims are paying the ransom only to discover after payment is made that their data wasn’t encrypted, but deleted outright.
As you can see, it definitely pays to avoid falling victim to a Cerber attack. Luckily, it’s actually pretty easy to avoid this threat altogether because it’s being spread via phishing emails and malicious text messages. [Read more…]