What is the infection route of ransomware? Know the causes of infection and take appropriate measures

infected computerRansomware that encrypts data and demands money in exchange for decryption.. The infection routes are diverse. “Computers,” “information,” and “money” are all important things, so we want to take proper measures to protect them. In this article, we will discuss how to take measures against ransomware as a first step.Explanation of infection routeI will continue to do so.

What is ransomware?

Ransomwareis a type of malware that prevents users from opening the data on an infected computer and demands money as a ransom. At this time, ransomwareIt is difficult to restore encrypted data and files.In some cases, you may need to use specialized tools or initialize your computer.

Malware (malicious software), including ransomware,Intrusion targeting computer security vulnerabilitiesI'll do it. It enters your computer's system when you use a contaminated network or open files such as photos or videos. And it encrypts the files.

Photos, videos, and website URLsAmong the information that users come into contact with, such asrisk of infectionis lurking. In the next chapter, we will specifically explain the ransomware infection route.

Ransomware infection route

There are various infection routes for ransomware. The routes are far more diverse than users can imagine, so having the knowledge to do so will be of great significance in preventing infections.

The typical routes for ransomware infection are:Email communications, the Internet, and shared networksthere is. Let's take a look at the points to note for each route.

When exchanging emails, you may receive attachments such as files or URLs, but be careful if you do not recognize the information shared in this way or the sender.

If you don't know the destination or don't remember the file nameThere is a high possibility that the email contains a source of infection, so be sure to check it before opening it.

Also, even if the recipient looks familiar, there is a possibility that the user's computer has been hijacked by someone else.I feel uncomfortable with the contents of the email and attached files.If there is, please be careful and check using a different route.

Website visits, pop-up ads, and freely distributed images and videosPlease be careful. Opening these files can lead to ransomware infection.

In addition, even legitimate sites may be hijacked by malware developers and become a source of infection. Therefore,It is not possible to judge whether information is safe based on past experience or impressions alone.So be careful.

If you share a network with multiple computers at work or in your family, be aware of the risk of spreading infection. If a computer in your network becomes infected, it can spread to other computers along the network.

Therefore,All sharing members recognize the importance of crisis management and have established rules for information sharing.It is desirable that

In this way, ransomware infection routes exist all around us. In addition, it is not possible to determine whether someone is infected on the surface, and simply saying "be careful" is not enough.Specific crime prevention measuresYou will need to take the following steps.

Measures against ransomware infection

So far, we have looked at the infection routes of ransomware. This chapter introduces measures you can take on a daily basis to prevent ransomware intrusion.

Computer operating systems (OS) often have functions to detect malware and prevent intrusion. However, malware developers are constantly working on exploiting OS security vulnerabilities.

Therefore, the defense ability of the same version of the OS weakens as time passes between updates, so the security system of the OS is updated with each update.When you receive an update notification, respond as soon as possibleLet's make sure to do so.

Antivirus software is software that can protect against malware, detect intrusions, and remove them. Of course, it also supports ransomware, so installing it will greatly increase your security.

As with the OS, there are some things to keep in mind when using antivirus software.Always keep it up to dateis. Even if it has great functionality, if it is out of date, it will lose out to the performance of ransomware. If you receive an update notification from your antivirus software, be sure to respond as soon as possible.

Up to this point, we have introduced the introduction of tools, but it will be even safer if you also set rules to avoid accessing suspicious information.

In particular, when multiple people share a network, it is recommended to establish standards for information handling among members, both for prevention and troubleshooting in the event of an infection.

for example,``Don't open emails from unknown senders or files you don't recognize,'' ``Refrain from using free Wi-Fi,'' etc.Decide on rules and take thorough measures as an organization.

If your computer is infected with ransomware and it is difficult to decrypt the encrypted data, you will have to initialize your computer and all data will be deleted.

Just in case,Back up important data frequentlyI feel relieved.

Decide on rules for information sharing

How was it? Ransomware infections have been on the rise in recent years. If you acquire knowledge about the infection route, etc., it may be useful in an emergency. Using this article as a reference, when using a network on your computer,Prevent infection in advance by checking via a different route if you feel that something is wrong.Let. In addition, when sharing a network with multiple members, all sharing members should be aware of the importance of crisis management and work together within the organization.Creating rules for information sharingIt is desirable that this is possible.