Losing access to the files is something that happens for every computer user. If the data loss happens due to hard drive failure or other reasons, you can easily recover hard drive data. But if the worst happens to your system and if it gets infected with ransomware, what should you do? Do you need to pay the hackers to hand over the decryption key for your data? Here is what you should know about ransomware and steps to guard against it.
Ransomware attacks
Ransomware enters a system through by clicking on any link or opening any phishing mails. Ransomware attack starts by encrypting all of the data on a system, restricting the access to the user unless and until he has the key to decrypt them. The first indication the victim can see after the ransomware attack is a warning that says that all the data in the system have been encrypted and a ransom must be paid to the attacker to get the key. The ransom is usually said to be paid in bitcoins. The ransom is different for individuals and businesses. As the encryption is very powerful, most of the victims just pay the ransom for HD recovery.
The hacker also gives 2 deadlines to recover the data from the hard drive. The first deadline is the day the demanded payment is said to be paid by the victim usually by 100% and during the second deadline the hacker will completely wipe off all your data including the keys to decrypt the data. Once the hacker deletes the data it will become impossible for data recovery from hard drive.
With the recent ransomware attack on last Friday, almost a quarter of a million computers is affected. After this incident, the question in the minds of many computer users right now is, “How do I protect my data from ransomware attack and how to recover data from hard disk?”
How to guard against ransomware?
If you are already a victim of ransomware then the following advice is too late for you. There are only two options left, either you have to pay the ransom and recover the data or get the help of a best data recovery company. Data Retrieval Ltd is a computer data recovery specialist company in London, offering hard drive data recovery services for businesses, organizations and home users who are experiencing a drive failure. The company specializes in recovering the formatted hard drive and recovering data from dead hard drive. The hard drive recovery cost of the company is at a highly competitive price, irrespective of the type of recovery required. The other services offered by the company are MAC hard drive recovery, external hard drive recovery and laptop hard drive recovery.
But if you haven’t, then listed below are the few things which you can do to protect your data from ransomware attack.
Backup data
Have a proper and frequent backup plan for your system. Making regular backups of all the files in your system can protect if from any data loss scenario. Data can be backed up through various ways. Data can be backed up in external hard drive and it is easy to recover data from external hard drive. But external hard drive is also more prone to failures and damages like a hard drive. The other most preferred method for backup is cloud backup. Cloud backup stores all your data in an environment outside your company. With cloud backup, whatever may be the cause of data loss, you can be sure that disk recovery is possible.
But do not assume that cloud backups are immune to ransomware attacks. If the encrypted files from your hard drive gets synced with the files in the cloud backup, then it could well overwrite the unencrypted files with the newer encrypted ones. So the best way is to make multiple backups which include having a copy of data on the external hard drive, portable USB hard drive and cloud backup.
Train employees
Ransomware usually relies on human vulnerabilities, rather than weaknesses in internet security software. Train your employees on the security system and backup plan. Teach them to be more vigilant about which email attachments they open and the links they click on.