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The Best Ransomware Protection for 2020
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Quote:When a ransomware attack turns your most important files into encrypted gibberish, and paying to get those files back is your only option, you're in big trouble. Choose the best ransomware protection for your PC to prevent those attacks from ever happening.

Why You Need Ransomware Protection

Malware coders and antivirus designers are locked in battle. The bad guys constantly seek to come up with techniques that will let their Trojans, bots, coin miners, and such get past the detection techniques used in antivirus tools. And the good guys constantly watch for those new techniques, updating their products to nullify them. In that gap between a new malware style and its counter, you may be hit by what's called a zero-day attack, something your antivirus company hasn’t yet seen. The next swing of the pendulum should see a solution, wiping out that zero-day attack in a few days, or even hours.

The problem is, if the zero-day attack was ransomware, your files remain inaccessible. That's why it can make sense to add a layer of ransomware-specific protection as a helper for your antivirus. Some of these are free, so you can beef up your ability to defend against ransomware without going over your security budget.

It's even worse when your business gets attacked by ransomware. Depending on the nature of the business, every hour of lost productivity might cost thousands of dollars, or even more. Fortunately, while ransomware attacks are on the rise, so are techniques for fighting those attacks. Here we look at tools you can use to protect yourself from ransomware.

What Is Ransomware, and How Do You Get It?

The premise of ransomware is simple. The attacker finds a way to take something of yours, and demands payment for its return. Encrypting ransomware, the most common type, takes away access to your important documents by replacing them with encrypted copies. Pay the ransom and you get the key to decrypt those documents (you hope). There is another type of ransomware that denies all use of your computer or mobile device. However, this screen locker ransomware is easier to defeat, and just doesn't pose the same level of threat as encrypting ransomware. Perhaps the most pernicious example is malware that encrypts your entire hard drive, rendering the computer unusable. Fortunately this last type is uncommon.

If you're hit by a ransomware attack, you won't know it at first. It doesn't show the usual signs that you've got malware. Encrypting ransomware works in the background, aiming to complete its nasty mission before you notice its presence. Once finished with the job, it gets in your face, displaying instructions for how to pay the ransom and get your files back. Naturally the perpetrators require untraceable payment; Bitcoin is a popular choice. The ransomware may also instruct victims to purchase a gift card or prepaid debit card and supply the card number.

As for how you contract this infestation, quite often it happens through an infected PDF or Office document sent to you in an email that looks legitimate. It may even seem to come from an address within your company's domain. That seems to be what happened with the WannaCry ransomware attack. If you have the slightest doubt as to the legitimacy of the email, don't click the link, and do report it to your IT department.

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