Issue 41.16
A few months back, we discussed the concept that you can secure your important documents and pictures by ‘encrypting’ them. This is a process that scrambles your files so they cannot be read or used by others unless they have the ‘key’ that restores them to a usable form. This can be dangerous if you do not carefully guard that key so you can always find it and use it.
In the last year or so, computer hackers have found a way to use this technology to make money. Over a year ago, they hacked into a large metropolitan hospital computer system and encrypted all the files which included patient medical records, financial information, personal files of the employees and doctors and other critical documents. They then contacted the hospital offering to restore everything if they would deposit $600,000.00 into their bitcoin account. (More on bitcoin in another article). The hospital was in a terrible dilemma and had to act fast. They did not have the information they needed to treat the patients, give them the proper medications, etc. This is not to mention all the personal information that was at stake. The paid the ransom and their information was restored.
Now, hackers are turning this technology against private computer users. One of my customers was recently attacked with this action. It is difficult to track how the attack occurred, but they think they allowed these people to enter their computer remotely thinking they were talking to service techs from a “Microsoft Partner” that had found a problem with their computer. The encryption didn’t happen immediately, but a few days later they woke up to find that they could not access any of their documents, spreadsheets, pdf files and pictures. In some cases, resetting the computer to an earlier restore point can solve the problem. In most cases, you have to pay them or you have to replace the encrypted files from your backup files (which hopefully you do on a regular and frequent basis). The problem with paying them is that they have no incentive to actually fix your files and usually just go away leaving you with a big problem. Unlike the case of the hospital where they had to restore the files in order to have credibility when they repeated the attack against other large organizations, these people don’t care if you report that they actually restored your files or not.
To avoid this type of attack, do the following things. Make sure you have a good anti-virus and anti-malware program installed, up-to-date and working. Never click on pop-up ads or emails that indicate you have to click on them to see something or do something (even if it seems to be from someone you know). This is especially true of those that report your computer is generating errors or bad files (malware, viruses, etc.) that are being sent to others. Be sure you frequently back up your important files in at least two locations.
If you use an external hard drive to backup, disconnect it when it is not in use. If it is connected when the files are encrypted, they will be encrypted at the same time unless you already encrypt the files with your own password. I recommend also having a backup in “the cloud”. These online backups (such as Carbonite, One-Drive, My Cloud or Dropbox) are separated from your computer by the internet and would typically not be at risk. In any case, you can see why I end every article the same. It saved this customer from losing all their wonderful photos, important documents, etc. So, always remember to have a backup of anything important.
Shaun McCausland has worked in the computer industry for over 33 years, 26 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 shaun@musicomp.net.