Johannesburg, 09 Sep 2015
Ransomware has grown by 58% in the second quarter of 2015, according to Intel's 2015 McAfee Labs report.
Ransomware is a Trojan malware that gets installed on a device when a user opens or downloads a contaminated file or clicks on an enticing but malicious pop-up window. The most prolific of these viruses is CryptoLocker, which has been bombarding South African businesses and holding their data hostage.
Once activated, the virus quickly encrypts all the data on the computer, effectively stealing all the documents on a user's machine and blocking access to them. The user then receives a message on the screen asking for a ransom of $60 to $500 in exchange for the data, with a time limit for the payment to be made.
Protecting data against ransomware
Protecting data from viruses and ransomware starts with backing up endpoint user devices on a regular schedule. This ensures any data stored on the machine is backed up and is easily recovered.
Data backup and recovery software that is made especially for laptops and desktops, such as Cibecs, make the protection and management of data simpler and centrally located.
However, backups alone are not enough to completely protect against malware. Data backup solutions need to also address data loss prevention through features such as data versioning, where different versions of a file are saved so that users have the option to choose the backup they need. This is particularly important in the case of a ransomware infection, as you don't want to recover a file that is already infected, you want the ability to choose the version of a file before it became encrypted by the malware.
Ransomware is a huge threat to businesses, but it is something that IT managers can protect against with the right software and data backup policies in place.
Symantec experts analysed the threat over a one-month period and discovered that during the month, 68 000 computers were infected, which is approximately 5 700 daily. They further found 2.9% of users paid the ransom, potentially earning the criminals $84 000 daily.
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