With the rise in ransomware attacks, companies have put a red flag on their data to make sure there is no trace of intrusion from anywhere. Software engineers and IT specialists have been asked to monitor each and everything that they see or fear to be abnormal and then getting rid of it before it infects the entire system. But most companies didn’t know about this term till two years back, hence the term for most companies is fairly new.
Now if you are tech savvy then you definitely know how the malware works. The use of Android or iOS devices doesn’t guarantee that your phone is not a good victim for the attackers.
If you think that the attacker is going to use the old methods of sending spam emails or divert you to an infected website, you’re wrong. These days they have come up with more sophisticated and innovative ideas like copying different well-known apps and then using these to attract users to hack into their systems. These apps are found in third-party app stores and are often not protected by the third party.
As soon as the malware enters a system, it starts to install itself silently in the system without raising any alarms for the user. Once inside the system, it will start sending the information back to the Command and Control server. These servers use any information available to hijack your system. Now imagine through this malware, they can turn on/off wifi, turn on/off your phone, open or close browsers or even use your personal information to access any online store.
Softwares like Simplocker have been reported to lock a phone and encrypt all the files. It would install itself with flash player and the rest is history. Similarly, Svpeng is a lock screen malware which freezes a phone plus steals banking details of the owners. It was first spotted in Russia. The malware is also seen spreading the virus in North America. The malware doesn’t only lock your phone, it actually freezes all apps and makes it useless for the user. The user has to wipe out all the data and apps to use the phone again. In this case, all the data is lost. There is more software available in the market that easily targets your devices bit how can you protect your data is more important now.
- Keep everything in your devices updated especially the antivirus app.
- Do not use third-party apps that look shady. Always use apps from original companies.
- Do not give away your personal details to anyone just like that.
- Back up data as frequently as possible.
You might want to know that home-based users are more vulnerable to these ransomware attackers than any other. They know how to manipulate or distract a user sitting at home and how to earn some dollars from these.
