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Ransomware |
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supertool73
Optics God Superstool Joined: January/03/2008 Status: Offline Points: 11814 |
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Posted: August/15/2017 at 12:43 |
I may have posted about his before, can't remember. But just wanting to put out some info.
Ransomware is when a cyber criminal (aka douchebag) installs software on your computer that locks (encrypts) your computer and then you have to pay them money so get the key to unlock it. Most of the time this software comes from an email. Phishing emails are what they are called. It can be a hyperlink in the content of the email, an attachment like a pdf, word doc, an image file like a picture and a huge number of other file types. All you have to do it click on one of those and boom your computer is infect. All the fancy anti malware software, firewalls, etc cannot stop it. Once they get it installed they can do anything they want to your computer. They can see everything on it. They can download all your saved passwords, turn on your webcam and see and listen. Anything you can do on your computer they can do. You can also get infected by going to websites, doing google searches and clicking on links you are not sure of. Going to google images and finding pictures. Simply clicking on a picture to look at it can infect your computer. If you don't know who the email is from and you are not expecting it. Do not open it, do not click on the links, and do not open the attachments. There is no way to get the Ransonware software off without the key to unlock it. And you woudl have to pay the fine to get it back if you want your data. Many people have tremendous amounts of data on their computers. Pictures, music, tax files, videos, movies, porn stashes, etc etc. Make sure you have off line backups of everything. Update your backups often and don't keep that backup device connected to your computer or online all the time. I just had a customer call me and she was going through all her emails and opened one whom she did not know and boom, her computer locked up and she has to pay $500 to get it unlocked. She has no backups of anything. Really a crappy deal. So be careful out there and stay safe. Stop, look and think, before you click on anything. |
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Lifetime warranty and excellent customer service don't mean a thing when your gun fails during a zombie attack.
"A Liberal is a person who will give away everything they don't own." |
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Son of Ed
Chuck Norris Joined: June/18/2011 Location: TEXAS Status: Offline Points: 122210 |
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Visit the Ed Show
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mike650
Optics God Joined: May/14/2006 Location: West of Rockies Status: Offline Points: 14569 |
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Our biggest fear here at the College District is one or more of our servers getting infected by ransomware.
This happened at one of the Kali colleges down south earlier this year. http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/science/sd-me-college-ransomware-20170110-story.html I was successful at removing the FBI virus from a couple of computers awhile back but it took a lot of work. |
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“A hunt based only on trophies taken falls far short of what the ultimate goal should be.” – Fred Bear
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Peddler
Optics God Joined: July/04/2012 Location: Oswego,NY Status: Offline Points: 13526 |
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I've been using Trend Micro Internet Security. Highly recommended by a friend. Any other opinions welcomed.
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When you are dead, you don't know you are dead.It is difficult only for others.
It is the same when you are stupid. |
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supertool73
Optics God Superstool Joined: January/03/2008 Status: Offline Points: 11814 |
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Tradition security programs will not catch these new strains of ransomware and malware. There are security experts that say these traditional security programs are pointless to even use anymore. Most of them are not capable of stopping ransomware. They may not even notify you after you have been infected. A lot of the strains can hide themselves.
Some of the training I have been through the guy had the most current Norton and McAfee installed on his laptops. He would then infect himself through an email and they would not catch it or even notify him of a problem. There is new stuff out called endpoint security and they are supposed to be better, but still lacking. We use Vipre with Endpoint security at work. But we have not had any issues with Ransomware. We have been pounding training into everyone for the last year and our employees are very aware of this risk and it is helping a lot. The end user is either the biggest risk or the one that will stop infections from happening. |
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Lifetime warranty and excellent customer service don't mean a thing when your gun fails during a zombie attack.
"A Liberal is a person who will give away everything they don't own." |
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RifleDude
MODERATOR EVIL OPPRESSOR Joined: October/13/2006 Location: Texas Status: Offline Points: 16337 |
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Good information, Jason! Thanks for the reminder! If you recall, SWFA's server got hit by ransomware a couple years ago.
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Ted
Money can't buy happiness... but it's much more comfortable to cry in a Porsche than on a bicycle. |
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koshkin
MODERATOR Dark Lord of Optics Joined: June/15/2004 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 13182 |
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I've had good luck with ESET's security products and they seem to be reasonably effective against randomware.
Then again, this is not really my field. ILya |
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Son of Ed
Chuck Norris Joined: June/18/2011 Location: TEXAS Status: Offline Points: 122210 |
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If I get rid of my old computer and get a new one can I start over again?
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Visit the Ed Show
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Son of Ed
Chuck Norris Joined: June/18/2011 Location: TEXAS Status: Offline Points: 122210 |
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Visit the Ed Show
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mike650
Optics God Joined: May/14/2006 Location: West of Rockies Status: Offline Points: 14569 |
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A good firewall like PAN that filters on layer-7 (north-south) and network application like Cisco ISE (east-west) helps but this is for enterprise solutions, we use both to support three colleges. At the desktop we use Sophos.
At home I use Advast, Malwarebytes, make sure I back my stuff up often and don't surf questionable sites or email. |
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“A hunt based only on trophies taken falls far short of what the ultimate goal should be.” – Fred Bear
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BeltFed
Optics Retard Joined: February/12/2008 Location: Ky Status: Offline Points: 22287 |
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I remember when computers were wonder machines that filled large rooms and were only used by highly trained experts. I liked it better then. Don't like smart phones either.
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Life's concerns should be about the 120lb pack your trying to get to the top of the mountain, and not the rock in your boot.
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