Article published in Northampton Living
(September 2021)

It’s all too normal recently. It seems almost daily there is a ransomware attack some ware... and unfortunately they regularly impact all of us. What can you do to prevent being a victim? Actually, there are many things you can do both personally and for your business. I put together a list of items you can have in your arsenal to hopefully prevent any such attacks.

Backups, the last line of defense. Although backups should not be the primary line of defense it’s important to have this part of the solution dialed in and rock solid. For businesses and home you want to remove people from the equation and automate your solution. Your data should always be in three locations. First, on the original device. Second, on some form of secondary local storage, which could be another computer, an external or network connected hard drive, or a backup server. Third, there should be an offsite/offline component. Offsite so if there is theft, fire, or natural disaster the data is more likely to be safe. Offline has some form of protection for your computer to delete this data, usually this is achievable by having some form of versioning.

Security Software, Hardware and updates should be your second to last line of defense. Remember to have a supported operating system, something newer than Windows 7 and newer than OS X 10.13 High Sierra. Older versions are a playground for ransomware. Have functioning reputable security software installed, mostly anything paid for will be decent. Have a router ideally with security services activated and paid for protecting your network. Use some form of DNS filter, quad9. net if a free option that works great, if not included with your routers security.

For businesses you should have a vendor that is actively monitoring your server(s) and firewall(s) at a minimum. They need to be watched 24/7 for you. Backups should also be the vendors responsibility and not any off the staff or owners. Email should also have a cloud based real time scanning solution that can detect emails that look like they come from inside your company but in fact are fake and trying to capture sensitive information.

For homes I recommend not letting kids use parents computers or phones. They have a dedicated machine to share or each have their own old phone or tablet. There are some great low cost options available and are worth every penny if their purchase can prevent a breach of your financial and personal data on the parent device. You don’t want your kids downloading a virus and then you log into your bank account or email and the next thing you know the bad actors drain your accounts.

Keeping these simple things in mind along with other low tech practices can help you avoid being a victim of Ransomware!
• Never provide personal information on a call you receive, even if you recognize the number. Call the vendor or person back and make sure they are who they say they are. This will help you verify the legitimacy of the caller.
• Never email anything you wouldn’t put on the back of a postcard, unless your office has an encrypted email solution. The technology used to send and receive email was created without security in mind way back when computer screen had only two colors and text, there was no sensitive use for email even imagined yet.
• Don’t purchase things online that seem too good to be true, such as a TV or Cruise that is 50% off the normal best price. Usually, if it’s too good to be true it is and likely the vendor is selling face products or simply trying to collect your personal or banking information.
• Use a password manager so that all sensitive accounts have unique passwords. Obviously we can’t remember the hundreds of passwords we all use in our head, that is unless we use the same one everywhere. LastPass is an option that has a good reputation.
• Call a nerd if you’re unsure of the safety or legitimacy of an email or website. The thieves are getting smarter every day and they know how to make emails look like they came from amazon, as an example, or make a site that is spelled Amaz0n. com look just like the real thing.

More contributions from Scott Haselkorn