Backup & File Sharing, File Backup and Share, Security
Ransomware goes viral
We’ve reached a new milestone in the evolution of ransomware: attackers are giving incentives for sharing. The recently-discovered Popcorn Time ransomware strain provides decryption for free if victims infect two additional users. If victims fail to either share or to pay the ransom after a week’s time, encrypted files will be deleted.
Evolutions of ransomware are not new. As I wrote a few weeks ago, several strains have cropped up recently, as hackers try to stay ahead of both security improvements and law enforcement.
Popcorn Time — a new spin on ransomware
Popcorn Time is particularly interesting. It subverts one of the basic tenets of cyber security and good practices within corporations, which is to pay attention to the sender. It pokes a hole into one of the first lines of defense against cyber attacks, which is employee awareness and education. With Popcorn Time, employees can know the sender and trust the email address, and are arguably more susceptible to falling victim to an attack because of this.
Employee education remains a critically important defense against ransomware and other malware attacks. Good training and awareness about cyber and internet security can increase vigilance around not just who is sending information, but what are they sending. Make sure your employees use caution whenever clicking links in emails.
But one of the best defenses against downtime and disruption from ransomware attacks is having up-to-date, easy-to-access backups for all of your critical business data. With a real-time backup solution – like SecuriSync® by Intermedia – you can quickly restore files and folders after a ransomware attack or any data loss event. Downtime is reduced and employees are back to working quickly.
Learn how to recover faster from ransomware
Read our report to learn more about how you can reduce the risk of downtime from ransomware with SecuriSync.
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