Stay Protected against Ransomware with SOPHOS
Ransomware is a relatively new type of cybercrime that has been on the rise in recent years. On the tail-end of November, for instance, San Francisco's transit system was struck and a Hollywood hospital fell victim to it last February. Ransomware attacks are not just targeting large institutions, however; everyday businesses and private individuals can also fall prey to these malicious, disruptive, and costly acts. As with any type of cyberattack, ransomware can be stopped with knowledge, preventive measures, and a little helping hand from products like SOPHOS.
What Does Ransomware Do?
Ransomware, as the name implies, attempts to extract a ransom from the owners of computers it infects. How it does this varies on which type of ransomware is being encountered.
Scareware operates similarly to the traditional tech support scam. It bombards you with messages about being infected and presses you to pay to remove them
Screen lockers will freeze you out of your computer, sometimes pretending to be from a legal authority or government agency, and require you to pay a fine to get access
Encrypting ransomware is the worst kind. The malware will encrypt files on your computer and require that payment be made in order to get the decryption key
How Do Ransomware Attacks Happen?
Ransomware gets on to a computer through the same means as other forms of malware. Usually this means the malware is sent through e-mail as an attachment that someone unwittingly clicks on and downloads. Alternatively, infections can come from malicious or compromised web sites that create security vulnerabilities on your computer that the ransomware can be slipped through.
Antivirus programs, while useful forms of protection in most instances, are not as effective against ransomware attacks due to the definition-based way they operate. It takes specialized anti-malware and, ideally, anti-ransomware systems to not only shut down attempts at unauthorized changes to your programs but also to help revert any attacks that slip through—meaning you won't have to pay ransoms to criminals.
Use SOPHOS to Protect Against Ransomware
SOPHOS Intercept X, available from High Tech,works against ransomware as an advanced form of endpoint protection. It offers multiple features that help take proactive and reactive steps to counter ransomware attacks on your systems.
The first feature, CryptoGuard, works by blocking attempts to spontaneously encrypt files and data even if your computer's most trusted systems have been compromised. CryptoGuard also has a reversion feature that will roll back files to a safe state should infection occur.
SOPHOS also offers root cause analysis so that, should a ransomware attack occur, you will be able to obtain detailed forensic-level analysis of the attack and infection paths. This information, combined with prescriptive guidance, will help you counter infections and adjust your cybersecurity for the future.
Lastly SOPHOS Intercept X features exploit preventions that specifically target malware-spreading techniques in order to offer zero-day protection. You will not need to wait for someone else to fall prey to a ransomware attack for SOPHOS to know how to protect you and your data.
High Tech Communications, based in Aurora, has partnered with several best-of-breed cloud service providers to bring top-tier cloud voice and data services to you. In addition to cloud telephony, we offer a number of high-end VoIP and traditional TDM phone systems and data solutions (on site or cloud) that can benefit a host of GTA sectors, such as education, healthcare, hospitality, call centres, and countless types of businesses.
Our integrated network partnerships allow us to offer dedicated communications support across regional, national, and even international accounts.
For more information on our data and protection services, please feel free to contact us toll-free at 1-800-853-2335.
