Ransomware is one of the most dangerous computer malware out there and can ruin your entire week in a heartbeat. The malware was first encountered in 1989, and since then, we have seen plenty of ransomware attacks all across the world. The biggest ransomware attack came in the shape of a computer virus called “WannaCry” that affected around 200,000 thousand computers in over 15 countries.
Even today, ransomware still comes in different names and shapes and can harm individuals and businesses alike. What ransomware does is that it locks all your files and puts an encryption key on them that only the attacker possesses. To decrypt your files, you will have to send the ransom to the attacker in bitcoin or any other untraceable way. And there is no assurance that they will decrypt your files even after you have made the payment.
Ransomware is stubborn, and it is hard to get it out of your PC once it has been affected. That is why it is strictly recommended that you take measures to protect your PC against ransomware. In this article, I have mentioned a few tips that can help you protect your PC against ransomware. Let’s take a look:
Never Open Suspicious Email Attachments
If you don’t want to lose all your data, it is recommended that you never download any files that come in a suspicious email. Most of us get spam emails every once in a while, and sometimes these emails also contain attachments. It is recommended that you never open such emails and always delete them.
Sometimes these emails impersonate other reputable organizations to lure you, so make sure that you always check an email’s authenticity before opening them.
If you end up downloading a ransomware file, your computer will immediately trigger it, and there would be no going back from there. That’s why it is better to be cautious with such emails.
Only Download from Trusted Sources
Another thing you should do to keep ransomware out of your PC is download everything with caution. It doesn’t matter what kind of files you are downloading; make sure that you are downloading it from a trusted source.
A lot of websites that have free content on them are an easy target for ransomware attackers. They monitor the traffic of such websites and attack their users from time to time. It might appear you are downloading the file you requested, but in reality, you will be downloading malware on your computer.
That is why it is strictly advised that you download only from trusted websites and official platforms.
Don’t Plug Random USBs into Your Laptop
Another way to protect your PC against ransomware is to always avoid plugging untrusted USBs into your computer. If you use USB to transfer data, make sure that it’s a trusted one and wasn’t plugged into any suspicious PC before.
It is recommended that you keep a separate USB for your data transfers and only use that whenever you need to move data from your PC to another device.
Install an Antivirus
Most people still don’t realize it, but antivirus is still crucial for your PC and can save it from a lot of harm. There are plenty of antivirus programs out there that you can get for cheap, and they are quite effective.
Antiviruses will warn you the moment an untrusted file has been downloaded on your computer and will notify you before running it. If the antivirus is certain that the file is malware, it will delete the file automatically for your security.
Some antivirus also offers you great firewalls that filter out all files you download from the internet.
