Kinyarwanda version

Ransomware is a form of malware that allows malicious actors to encrypts a victim's files and then demand payment for restored access.

On an individual and organization-wide level, investing in prevention Is the best form of protection against ransomware. Adopt the following best practices to greatly reduce your chances of become a victim to a ransomware attack.

Be cautious of links and attachments from unfamiliar senders

Most ransomware is distributed through email and phishing links, and so it is important to always exercise caution when opening links or attachments in your inbox from unfamiliar senders.

One of the biggest signs of a malicious email that may have ransomware is the need for urgent action, and this is when users should take time to pause and think before clicking through that link or opening that attachment. Other signs include:

• Poor grammar

• Generic greetings like "Dear Customer" instead of your name

• The email is intending to impersonate a friend, colleague or other known contact

• The domain name mimics another company

Carry out frequent data backups

If you have backups of your data, you will be able to easily recover from a ransomware attack by restoring your data from a source other than the encrypted files. Ransomware can also scan your network for these backup files, and so it is important to keep another copy of your backup files offsite on the cloud storage.

Backup important data once every 24 hours on a local storage device that is offline or on the cloud storage, so that you have additional copies of your data out of your organization or business network. 

Maintain up-to-date anti-virus software and initiate regular scans

As a prevention measure, ensuring your device has an up-to-date anti-virus software will allow you to scan all email attachments and downloaded software, to prevent potentially running ransomware on your device.

Check daily for updates when opening your antivirus software, and always initiate antivirus scans after downloading new files to your device.

Keep your devices systems up-to-date

Software updates fix newly discovered bugs and security holes that ransomware malware may take advantage of to compromise firmware, anti-malware applications, operating systems, and third-party software. New ransomware versions come out regularly, and so software must be regularly updated to combat these new threats.

Adopt Multi-Factor Authentication

Multi-factor authentication is an additional level of security that uses multiple pieces of information to verify your identity.

Without the security benefits of MFA, an attacker only needs compromised user credentials to gain system access (single-factor authentication). This is where traditional backup systems often fall short, with compromised credentials, these systems can be targeted during a ransomware attack to eliminate the ability to recover applications or data.

With Multi-Factor Authentication, the attackers don’t have the additional required information to access the target account. This keeps them out of the system and prevents the additional attack.