Ransomware is nasty no matter how you slice it. And now it has a sidekick called ranscam. In this article, we want you to know what it is and how to keep from becoming a victim of it.
The very term “ranscam” sounds like what it is—ransomware that gets wormed in to your computer system and creates a ransom demand that it sends to you. It does not cause your files to be encrypted but it does actually delete them! In the ransom demand, you will be told what they want you to do to retrieve your files, but you can rest assured it involves collecting money from you.
Many cyber security experts believe this particular strain of ransomware will not last very long since its reputation is very negative. Other ransomware is far more sophisticated such as that in the series called Crypto. The only reason these viruses exist is for their creators to turn a very quick profit. This poses the question of how you can tell if your computer has been affected by either ransomware or the ranscam virus.
Read on….
If you are wanting to know if you have either ransomware or ranscam, unfortunately, you can’t really know. And if you pay the ransom demand, there’s no guarantee that your files will be recovered. Remember—it’s a criminal asking for the money so you’re not paying a normal person. They could care less about your personal pictures, movies and other files. They only want your money. Even if you pay what they demand, they really don’t care about your stuff so you probably will never see your files again.
If you think you’ve been victimized by ransomware, you need to understand and follow the following steps:
- Don’t pay any ransom money! All you’re doing is funding these hackers to continue on to their next criminal act.
- Restore your system by using your back-up files. Do NOT pay anything!
- Let the FBI know. The FBI needs to know about these hackers in order to bring justice through legal proceedings.
- Report all cyber-criminal activity you see to IC3, which is a federal agency. It is here so you can file any complaints.
- ALWAYS notify your security company!! They MUST know if they’ve missed a huge security threat or they won’t be able to protect against it in the future.
- Keep in mind you are helping to protect others by reporting any breech of security.
- Educate yourself! Simply doing one webinar or meeting is not enough. You must keep up with some continuing education on the matter and really know what you’re dealing with.
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