Protection against Ransomware
Ransomware is getting a bigger problem every year.
What is Ransomware?
Such malware will encrypt all files on your computer. They can only be decrypted with the specific key, which is then offered for you to buy from the attackers. But obviously, even if you pay there is no guarantee that you will actually receive the key.
Since 2015 security experts are noticing a significant increase in the number of ransomware. “Locky”, “Goldeneye”, “KillDisk”, “Lockscreen” and “FLocker” are just some of the more prominent examples of ransomware spreading in the wild.
And this problem is not limited to Windows anymore: “KillDisk” targets Linux systems and “KERanger” can infect Macs. There is even a documented case of ransomware that infects SmartTVs running on Android (“FLocker”).
In the darknet there are also tools available so that attackers can build their own Ransomware. They can use a custom message and set the amount of money to be blackmailed from the victim. The service provider will then take 30% of that amount.
How to protect yourself against Ransomware?
How to protect yourself against this looming threat? In most cases, victims of ransomware are infected by using phishing attacks: The attacker tricks the victim into visiting a specially prepared website which will deliver the ransomware. Such links can be spread by email but more and more they are being distributed by hijacked advertising domains. This is especially dangerous because your computer can get infected by visiting a normally safe site, if it displays ads from external websites.
One obvious solution is to block Advertisement and other potentially dangerous domains. For browser there are plugins for this, like Adblock or Privacy Badger. But obviously they can only protect the browser on your computer and often won’t work on SmartTVs or other devices.
As a Perfect Privacy user you can activate the TrackStop filter instead: With one mouse click all advertising, phishing and malware domains will be blocked by our server infrastructure. This way you can protect all your devices from ransomware if your home network is connected via Perfect Privacy VPN.
Prevent ransomware infection by using Perfect Privacy with TrackStop!