May 15, 2017
Huge Cyber Attack Worldwide – Serious Threat
“WannaCry” is the biggest successful cyber attack in years.
In Europe, tens of thousands of computers have been hit so far. Hospitals were even turning away patients because they can’t access their records. And it spread from there to many other countries—the country count has now reached over 100.
Ransomware locks your files. Then the bad guys require a payment to unlock them – your files are held hostage. In these cases, we are seeing ransom demands between $300 and $600. It’s hitting Windows systems that are missing update patches – those annoying pop-up messages that everyone keeps trying to postpone. Microsoft released an update last month that prevents this attack BUT THERE ARE STILL MILLIONS OF COMPUTERS THAT HAVEN’T INSTALLED THIS PATCH.
What To Do
This is the most serious threat we’ve seen in quite some time – please protect yourself!
- Make sure your update patches are current on all PC’s and servers (for PC’s on a Holston IT service agreement we are handling this for you)
- Don’t open suspicious emails and DON’T open attachments unless you are CERTAIN that you know the person who sent it, and that the attachment is legit.
- Make sure you have a good anti-virus and keep it current (Remember, you get what you pay for. Free isn’t always good)
- Have a good offsite backup of your data
- Please DO NOT bring your personal laptop to work unless you are confident it is updated
Not sure whether or not your network is secure? This month we are giving away 3 cybersecurity assessments. This is a no-risk way to get another opinion on your network configurations and be certain there are no “criminals welcome here” signs hanging, unbeknownst to you, in cyberspace. To claim yours, email alison@holstonit.com right away.
