Ransomware. It is a malicious computer virus that is wreaking all sorts of chaos in the IT industry. For a business owner who isn’t in the IT industry, however, ransomware is something you may have never heard of before. As a business owner, it is not only important for you to know what ransomware is, but for you to understand how you can protect your business data from it.
What Is Ransomware And What Happens If Your Business Data Has Already Been Infected?
In the underground hacker’s world, ransomware is the newest and hottest type of computer virus. It is a computer virus that allows the hacker to seize your data and hold it hostage until you pay a ransom to get it back. Hence the name ransomware.
Put It In Perspective
Imagine being the owner of a business and finding out that your computer has been infected with ransomware. The hacker has seized your customer’s personal files. These files include your customers’ names, emails, phone numbers, addresses, and their credit card information. This hacker could do horrible things with your customers’ information and it could result in a lawsuit if your customers decide to blame you for anything bad that happens.
So, What Do You Do?
This particular situation would be classified as an emergency data recovery situation. It is a situation that calls for onsite data recovery. Basically, it means you need an expert to come to you and recover the data the ransomware has taken from you.
That’s Horrible! How Do You Stop This From Happening?
Fortunately, there are some simple steps you can take to protect your business from ransomware attacks.
Email Safety Measures
As a business owner, you are going to get emails from people you don’t know. One of the most common ways to get infected with a virus is to download and open an attachment through an email. You may not be able to avoid reading emails from unknown senders, but you do not have to download attachments or click links in those emails.
Avoid Suspicious Websites
The internet is a dangerous place. You have to be very careful if you spend any time browsing the internet on your business computer. Any type of website that involves transferring files or interacting with other people gives the virus a change to get transferred to your computer. You have to be careful. Protect your computer by making sure you have the best antivirus program on the market. This way the virus program can catch ransomware and stop it before it gets onto your computer.
Keep Your Systems Up-To-Date
All of the electronic devices in your business including tablets, laptops, desktops, and smartphones need to be up-to-date. This includes operating system updates, program updates, and security system updates. Hackers look for easy targets and an outdated device is an easy target.
No System Is Perfect
It is important to keep in mind that no plan is perfect. Even though you take precautions and are extra careful, you could still get infected. This is why having a solid data loss backup method in place is just as important as reaching out to a data recovery expert. This way you can have peace of mind in knowing you have a backup of your business data.
Protecting the data of your business can be scary. By taking steps to protect your business data from ransomware and having a regularly backing up your business data, you shouldn’t have anything to worry about.