How Ransomware Damages Your Computer

5 minute read

Before we start, we take Ransomware seriously because in 2019, The Heritage Company had to close down and let 300 staff go. Don't take any shortcuts to the safety of your business.

Ransomware is one type of virus. Before we go into detail about viruses, please watch the following video to give you an intro to viruses and how they can affect you.



Basically the goal of the virus creator is to do one of more of the following to your IT systems:
• Cause harm to your files
• Gather information about you
• A combination of the above to get earn the creators money

With ransomware, we are talking about the latter. Recent examples included Jigsaw, Cryptolocker and WannaCrypt. This second video is more technical and for this we would like to introduce Dr Pound at the University of Nottingham.



How does Ransomware get onto my computer?
There are multiple ways that ransomware can infect your computer. One way is via email (through malicious spam or malspam). The email may include attachments, such as PDFs or Word documents. It might also contain links to malicious websites.

Another popular trick is malvertising. Malvertising is the use of online advertising to distribute malware with little user interaction. While browsing the web even on legitimate websites, users can be directed to the criminals server without ever clicking on an ad. These servers gather details about your computer and locations. Then they will select the malware best suited to deliver.

Would you like to see the Ransomware Report and how it affects SMBs?

Staying Safe
For us, the main concern is keeping customers data safe and ensuring that systems are updated regularly so that any incident (accidental or otherwise) results in minimum time lost to their business or even redundancy for staff at the Heritage Company.

Here is a checklist to help you and your business:
• Keep your software up to date
• Keep your computer up to date (Windows, Mac, Google, Linux and Unix systems updates) including your smart phones and tablets
• Have a backup system in place that complies with your business needs
• Software firm Comodo recommends patch management to protect your IT equipment

The last point about patch management is a great solution that can find problems with your IT systems without you being aware yourself. This allows us to monitor and maintain your systems with little downtime to you. As such, patching, antivirus updates and system updates are all looked after.

If you are running Windows 7 on any of your computers in 2019, plan to upgrade to Windows 10. In January 2020, Windows 7 will no longer be supported by Microsoft. For more info on this, please speak to a member of our team on 01489 290 001.

No system is 100% full proof, so keeping your files safe is one measure to avoid being a victim of ransomware. Have your computers checked, refreshed and you can help yourself by minimising lost work. An IT Audit even once a year goes a long way to ensure your business meets IT best practices.

How long could you stop working?
The time not working can add up when there is an outage to any business. Here is a simple calculator to help you determine the cost to your business.

If you would like a Proactive IT approach please speak to a member of our team on 01489 290 001. You can also drop us an email.

This post was brought to you by Baldeep on 13 Mar 2019.

Small businesses are often left behind by IT companies as the aim is to work with the larger businesses. Baldeep started the company knowing that IT doesn't have to be your frustration. Provide great solutions at small business budgets is helping companies in Hampshire to focus on their goals without the burden of IT overheads or downtime.

Baldeep continued developing his skillset and has multiple accreditations to his name including his degree, Microsoft Certifications, ITIL and VMware Data Center Virtualization Certification. He is always learning to move IT forward for your business.

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