As part of our commitment to helps users preserve and protect their valuable data, from time to time we post about emerging and evolving threats. One of the most problematic threats to emerge in recent years is the dreaded ransomware…
What is Ransomware?
Ransomware: A type of malware that restricts access to the infected computer system. Once infected, the files on the compromised device, including files connected by external drives, are hi-jacked and encrypted/restricted. Users are offered to pay a ransom to the malware operators to remove the restriction.
There has been an increase of incidents related to ransomware, including some very public instances that resulted in major problems for the victims. Here are a couple of examples:
A hospital in Indiana fell prey to an insidious ransomware attack and paid $55,000 USD to recover their data.
Soon after, the City of Atlanta fell victim to a ransomware attack. The perpetrators demanded $52,000 USD, but unlike the previously mentioned hospital, Atlanta refused to comply – and then spent over $2.6 million in data recovery and incident mitigation efforts!
- https://www.zdnet.com/article/atlanta-spent-at-least-two-million-on-ransomware-attack-recovery/
- https://www.wired.com/story/atlanta-spent-26m-recover-from-ransomware-scare/
Luckily, regardless of what type of device you have, ElephantDrive offers two features which you can enable to protect and save your files from ransomware:
- Archiving – Click here to learn more about Archiving or here to learn how to modify your archiving rules.
- Versioning – Click here to learn more about Versioning or here to learn how to modify versioning rules.
Users are typically infected by one of two types of ransomware. The first type will encrypt your data and rename your files. The second type will encrypt your data but not rename your files.
Enabling archiving rules to keep all deleted files permanently is the best defense against ransomware which renames your files. Once ElephantDrive detects that a file has been renamed locally, the corresponding file will be archived in your account which you can then later retrieve.
Enabling versioning rules to keep file versions is the best defense against ransomware which does not rename your files. Once ElephantDrive detects that a file has been modified, a version of the file will be kept as a version in your account which you can then later retrieve.
In any case, having both archiving and versioning settings enabled is the best step forward for protecting your data against ransomware. If you are ever infected with ransomware, we recommend you to first disconnect the infected device from the Internet, then report the issue to ElephantDrive by emailing support@35.83.19.187.
