21 Dec Are we still talking about Ransomware?

Yes, unfortunately, as cyber-criminal activity is growing, not shrinking.  The plan is to not sound like a broken record, but instead re-follow our simple but constructed advice on how to stay safe online:

99% of hackers target computers via spam emails that have hidden code and feature the virus that can encrypt and lock your computer if opened.  The idea is to stay vigilant and get all staff to understand the key threats:

• If you’re not expecting an email and don’t know the sender, be extremely wary and don’t double click any attachments if you don’t need to
• If something that’s supposed to be “official” (and email or web page) has grammatical errors or seems in any way not quite professional, don’t touch it
• If the sender’s email domain doesn’t look quite right (the domain isn’t one you know – such as academiastuff.com – or if it has Latinletters replaced with similar looking Cyrillic or other characters – such as academia), don’t trust it
• If in doubt, check with the sender – nobody is going to be annoyed with you double checking the origin of an email
• Wherever possible, utilise systems that don’t store files locally (e.g. Office365/OneDrive/SharePointonline only – not using the desktop sync agents - or apps such as Foldr which take network shared drives and put them in a browser so your machine doesn’t look at the share directly)

Ultimately, ransomware cannot get to files that you only access via a browser to encrypt them. Therefore, worst case if you do become infected, you just wipe your machine and don’t lose any data.

It is essential that all your systems have the latest security patches installed and that backups are regularly taken. Consult your head of IT or your service operator if in doubt.

How can Academia help?

Academia have partnered with Sophos, a security first software and hardware company with over 30 years’ experience in IT security. Speak to us today to learn about the service we can offer your business or school on sales@academia.co.uk or call 01992 703 900