These days being caught for ransom can happen quite differently with your computer of all things. We are talking definitely about Ransomware, an especially type of malware that is to say bad software that’s been making headlines recently. So here’s how it works, once Ransomware gets on your computer usually through an infected email attachment or the all-too-common Trojan.
It will encrypt your data in some way and require in exchange for giving control of your system back to you.
A simpler form of Ransomware will only try to trick you into believing there’s something wrong with your computer and get you to pay money to fix it. A favourite tactic that we see in those banner ads that tell you that something has infected you. Now often with those, you’ve got at least basic control over your system still, so the only real issue is that you have to deal with constant pop-ups until you find a way to get rid of the malware.
Ransomware has some main features:
– It has unbreakable encryption, which means that you can’t decrypt the files on your own, but there are some tools that can decrypt some types.
– It can encrypt all sorts of files, from documents to pictures, videos, audio files and everything you may have on your computer.
– It can jostle your file names, so you can’t know which data was infected.
– It will append a different extension to your files.
– It will display a message or a background image that lets you know your data has been encrypted and that you have to pay some money to restore it.
– It always requests payment in Bitcoins, because governments can not track it.
– It uses complicated evasion techniques to be undetected by antivirus software.
– It can infect other PCs connected to a (LAN) local area network, generating further destruction.
At this time it’s not possible to recover the files that are encrypted by recent Ransomware. Read this article to know how to protect yourself against ransomware.