This is the biggest one in years and it's ransomware.
They call it “WannaCry” ransomware and it started in Europe where tens of thousands of computers have already been hit. Hospitals are even turning away patients because they can’t access their records. And it’s only a matter of hours or days until it spreads to the US.
Ransomware locks your files. Then the bad guys require a payment to unlock them – your files are held hostage. In these cases, we are seeing ransom demands between $300 and $600. It’s hitting Windows systems that are missing update patches – those annoying pop-up messages that everyone keeps trying to postpone. Microsoft released an update last month that prevents this attack BUT THERE ARE STILL MILLIONS OF COMPUTERS THAT HAVEN’T INSTALLED THIS PATCH.
What To Do !!!
This is the most serious threat we’ve seen in quite some time – please protect yourself!
- Make sure your update patches are current on all PC’s and servers
- Be especially cautious of opening suspicious emails
- Make sure you have a good anti-virus and keep it current (Remember, you get what you pay for. Free isn’t always good)
- Have a good offsite backup of your data
- Please DO NOT bring your personal laptop to work unless you are confident it is updated
If you have any questions, please call me at 508-543-5540. And if you want to get more informed on what you can do to protect your business with this free report: "12 Little-Known Facts Every Business Owner Must Know About Data Backup, Security and Disaster Recovery" (https://www.fairoaksit.com/backup/). It contains practical tips and suggestions every business can use.
Tom Crossley
