Issue 27.17
If it were not for the emotional and financial devastation that some of the new viruses and malware are causing, it would be almost comical. Last week saw the release of another and even more destructive virus into the world of PC users. I will share the name of this one and what it does in a moment. The important thing is to understand how to avoid getting infected and how to protect your critical data and computers from the damage that they seek to cause. We have published in these articles a number of actions you can take to protect yourself, but the accelerating growth of extremely sophisticated malware is requiring the whole PC world to adopt more aggressive protections similar to what big companies do to protect themselves. As we have seen, even that may not be enough to avoid costly and frustrating issues, but it is worth looking at these ideas if only to give you a chance for your computer to survive such an attack if it comes.
The first and most important action you can take is to make sure you have at least two backups of critical data, one of which is not usually connected to your computer. You can accomplish this by using an external drive and only connecting it when you are backing up your data – then disconnecting it until you need it or your next backup. The second backup can be a local drive or network backup or, preferably, a cloud based backup service such as OneDrive or Carbonite that keeps archives of your files for 30 days after they are backed up. This assures that, even if your files are corrupted and the backup copies those corrupted files, you should still have working copies in the archives of previous backups. I realize that his is somewhat confusing and you should consult your computer professional if it is not clear to you.
The second action is to make sure you are using Windows 7, 8, or 10 or a new version of Windows Server on your computer and that all available updates have been loaded and installed. Microsoft is very aware and quite embarrassed that their operating systems have been so easy to destroy or infect and is constantly taking steps to resolve the access points that these hackers have used to create problems. If you use an older version of Windows, there are no updates and usually the anti-virus and anti-malware programs will also not update correctly. This means if you are using Vista or XP, you should never go on the internet as you are likely going to have serious problems. Windows has also announced that the new version of Windows 10 (which will likely be released in 2-3 months) will have a new artificial intelligence design that “should” defeat any attempts to lock up your computer or encrypt your files without your permission. Of course we will have to wait to see if these attempts to protect you are actually going to work. You should also make sure your anti-virus program is up-to-date and capable of protecting you from these types of threats.
The third thing is to avoid any links to interesting content you see in Facebook, emails, pop-up ads, etc. – virtually anything you have not gone looking for and even things you have looked for if they are buzz-word related, porn or free downloads. It is sad that it has come to this, but those areas are where most people get infected.
The new threat is designed to look like the Petya encryption virus of a number of months ago, but as the researchers have looked more closely, they have found that it does not actually encrypt your files. It destroys your access to all your files by encrypting the Master Boot Record or File management system in your computer. There is no way to retrieve anything that was on your hard drive if this one hits you unless you have a saved backup on another, usually disconnected drive or cloud backup. It is called NotPetya and is designed as destructive malware – they don’t care if you pay them or not.
I am going to take a break from talking about viruses and threats for a couple of weeks unless there is something you really need to know as I want to get back to the positive uses of computers, so as I always say, make sure you remember to protect your data, documents, pictures and your computer, phone and tablet by always backing up anything important.
Shaun McCausland has worked in the computer industry for over 34 years, 27 years of it locally with Bits ‘N’ Bytes and Musicomp and currently works as a computer consultant. If you have questions you can reach him at 435-668-7118 or mccausland.shaun54@gmail.com .