It’s also crucial that you have robust, reliable anti-ransomware software installed on your device to identify and quarantine the threat before it has a chance to wreak havoc. Some tools are powerful enough to identify threats in progress and change the user privileges of the malicious program automatically, stopping it in its tracks even if you inadvertently granted the malware permission to make changes to your system. So if you do get targeted, it’s vital that you’ve already backed up all your important files securely on an external hard drive or in the cloud – somewhere disconnected from your main device, where the ransomware can’t penetrate. Without a decryption key, there’s no way to get your files back after a ransom attack. And when they succeed in getting ransomware onto these targets’ devices and encrypting their precious files, these criminals are demanding a lot more money than before to give them back. They’re refining their attacks from a scattergun “phishing” approach – with many targets but a low success rate – to a “whaling” or “spear-fishing” approach, honing in on fewer targets but with precise, carefully tailored scams that really do catch people out.
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