Just when you thought you were safe from ransomware, here comes a newer, harder to remedy form of ransomware called Spora.
The gist of Spora is that it uses new encryption techniques that would prevent workarounds that invalidated Cryptolocker. The unlocker tool that the cybercriminals give you to decrypt your data – if they actually gave it to you instead of just absconding with your money – will only work for the one computer. It’s also done in such a way that it’s pretty much impossible to trace it back to the perpetrator.
If you get bitten by Spora? Your gonna have to pay, and hope they give you the unlocker. And don’t just hit you again with another attack.
There IS a solution though, which is what I discuss without fail with every new client (and even the existing ones!): good backups!
If you have good backups that allows you to recover completely, we can help recover your PC to before the ransomware infection took place. You might lose a day’s worth, but you aren’t going to lose – in Woody the toy marionette’s words – EVERYTHING.
Good backups mean good, full system backups on a regular basis, and both full and incremental backups on regular user files on a regular basis. Another critical factor is keeping the backup data safe, and a very good way of doing that is to “ping-pong” between two different external drives. Every week change out the backup drive, and take the spare to a different location. The different location can be home if the PC is at a business location, or to work if the PC is at home.
Are YOUR computers getting good backups? If you were infected with ransomware would you be able to recover, without sending many hundreds or thousands of dollars to cybercriminals, who may or may not make good their promise to send you the unlocker?
If you are, kudos to you! You might want to get us to look over your backups to double-check that you’re covering your bases – and your backside.
If not, wouldn’t today be a good time to contact us and make an appointment? We can work with you remotely, too, over the internet! I even helped a client with a remote session while I was at a Whataburger in Shreveport LA as we were traveling home from Texas, using my cellphone for an internet connection!
See this article on CSO Online for more details about Spora.