URGENT: The newest viruses threatening your company
Cryptolocker
There’s been a lot of news surrounding network security in the last month. Cryptolocker-variant ransomware is one of the biggest threats at the moment. If you aren’t familiar with this malware, it’s a type of software that once installed, begins digitally locking all of your files. It notifies you once it has completed encrypting all the data it can find – and then requests a ‘ransom’ sum of between $200-$600 to un-encrypt (unlock) your data!
The worst part about Cryptolocker is that as of today, there is no way to decrypt your data once the malware has run its course. The only current “fix” is to have good backups. Since the malware keeps changing variants every few weeks, it is incredibly difficult to prevent in advance, but fairly simply to recover from, if you have regular backups!
Superfish
Another headline in news lately has been the discovery of spyware shipping pre-installed on IBM/Lenovo systems. This particular spyware breaks secure HTTP/Web connections, and can potentially be used easily by hackers to spoof security certificates when visiting legitimate websites. You are most likely only at risk if you’ve purchased a Lenovo system recently. If you are at all concerned that you might be at risk, please contact us and we can evaluate your systems for threats.
Phishing
Phishing attacks are even more popular than usual lately. Phishing generally refers to an email or website impersonating another legitimate site, person or sender in an attempt to obtain some of your personal data. Generally, this includes asking for you to log in before obtaining a file, requesting you send your passwords to your “IT administrator”, or for credit card/social security information to “confirm your identity”.
If you ever receive a suspicious email, don’t open it! Please forward it to one of our techs at [email protected]. Let us check it out and save you the potential risk and worry of exposure. *For more information on protecting your business from potential threats like these, read our latest post on disaster prevention.
