It is a sad reality, and it does not just
take place in drama TV series or movies, but in real life, every day.
Ransomware, one of the worst, most infuriating, despicable forms of attacks on
computers, strikes you at various scales. It can hit private users working from
home with apparently unimportant personal data, as well as large corporations.
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The last concrete case of ransomware I was
personally confronted to in my line of work was an attack on the server
computer of a cultural center in
Amman two years ago. As it happens typically,
the pirates were able to download the virus and hijack all the files on the
server by encrypting (locking) them, and therefore preventing the user from
opening and using them. They sent a message asking for a ransom, a payment in digital
currency equivalent to JD2,000, through an impossible to track channel.
Should the cultural center have paid, the
attackers would have then sent a decryption key enabling the unlocking of the
files. The center refused to yield to the threat, and thanks to the back up
data set they had on another machine’s hard disk, did not suffer any actual
loss of data. Their IT techies were also able to detect and wipe out the virus
afterwards.
I was strangely reminded of the
frustrating ransomware reality twice yesterday. The first time was when
watching an old episode from 2016 of the Netflix series The Blacklist, and that
featured a typical case of ransomware, and the second time when learning in the
news that Gigabyte, one of the world’s largest manufacturers of motherboards
for computers, had been the subject of a ransomware attack. If pirates were
able to penetrate the system of professionals working in the technology industry
itself and to ransom them, then no one is safe!
Computer threats and viruses affect
systems in various ways. Some are meant just to spy on you and your data, only
to decide how to use the information at some later stage. Others steal your
files, looking for passwords, bank account information and the like. Others are
just mean and delete your data for no apparent reason or benefit. It has been
going on for more than 30 years now.
Kaspersky, one of the main providers of efficient
anti-virus software, say that the first recorded case was a software infection
created by the Alvi brothers from Pakistan, back in 1986. Ransomware seems to have
appeared about four years after, circa 1990. It is, however, over the last seven
to eight years that the rate of ransomware attacks has significantly increased.
Few computer problems, if any, can be as
frustrating as being yourself the victim of a ransomware attack. Imagine the
message: “Either you pay me, or you will never be able to have access to your
files again!” And of course, if you decide to go ahead and to pay the ransom,
you have no guarantee at all that the pirates, the criminals, will actually
give you the key to unlock your files, though it seems that in most cases they
do. Perhaps it is their way to maintain a “good reputation”!
As for trying yourself to decrypt and
unlock the files, without the necessary key, it is virtually impossible. The
encryption algorithm is usually so strong that even IT professionals would be
unable to succeed doing so.
Multiple forms of protection do exist.
From well configured firewalls, both hardware and software-based, to properly
maintained and updated antivirus programs like Kaspersky, Bitdefender, Avast,
and others, they all help. Being careful about what websites to browse, what
suspicious emails to open or not to open, and what suggested link to click, is
important too. Awareness is essential here.
The most efficient form of protection may
still be to have a daily back up of all your files, made automatically in an
unattended manner, and on an external device, for ultimate safety. Cloud
storage also is a valid option, as it is unlikely, though never an absolute
certainty, that cloud reputable services like Microsoft 365, Dropbox, or Google
Drive, will probably be better protected against ransomware than your personal
laptop, and therefore will ensure that you always have access to your files and
data.
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