Another hospital has been taken down by ransomware this past Sunday, this time in the US.
Universal Health Services, a hospital with multiple locations, has been taken down by ransomware early Sunday morning. Staff at the hospital have been forced to go with paper for everything for the time being, as presently all of their computers are down.
Ransomware is a type of infection that once infected will crawl through all the computers on the system’s network, slowly encrypting every file on each computer it can reach. Once all files have been encrypted the user is then instructed that their systems are fully locked down and cannot be accessed without paying the ransom.
One of the scariest traits of ransomware is the fact that the user typically does not know they have been infected/encrypted until the virus has fully done its job and the point of return has passed. Typically once a user has hit this point the only path forward is to wipe everything from the system and restore from your backups.
With ransomware back on the rise again it is extremely important to make sure you are protected from the potential threats while also being prepared for the event something like this should ever happen to your home or business. Thankfully many, but not all, anti-virus programs have started implementing ransomware detection tools that watch for the behavior of a virus slowly encrypting your files and lock the system down. However, as one should never put their entire faith in one protection service, constant scheduled backups are exponentially more important right now. And not only backups, but more than one backup method (Frankenstein typically recommends both a local AND online backup for redundant security.)
Contact Frankenstein Computers today to make sure your security software is up to par, and your backups are all set up appropriately, running smoothly and up-to-date. It is simply too costly at this time to risk otherwise. Make sure your home and office computers are safe and secure!
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