{"id":54045,"date":"2016-08-18T19:27:23","date_gmt":"2016-08-18T19:27:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/?p=54045"},"modified":"2016-08-19T18:28:35","modified_gmt":"2016-08-19T18:28:35","slug":"ransomware-continues-evolve","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/ransomware-continues-evolve\/","title":{"rendered":"Ransomware Continues to Evolve"},"content":{"rendered":"

 <\/p>\n

<\/h4>\n

Ransomware <\/a>has continued to evolve within the second quarter of 2016, with new variants popping up all over the place…<\/h4>\n

The ransomware <\/a>epidemic is not slowing down anytime soon. \u00a0We saw first hand throughout the second quarter of 2016 the new ransomware viruses attacking PC users. \u00a0These new variants range from new versions of the Locky ransomware, Zepto, to Cerber simply becoming polymorphic.<\/p>\n

This is not including the brand new strands that have been called Bart and MIRCOP<\/a>, or the dynamic duo Petya and Mischa<\/a>. \u00a0So as a society who has become increasingly dependent on computing, what do you do to protect yourself?<\/p>\n

The United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT)<\/a> strongly advises using a whitelist security technology. \u00a0For personal uses, PC Matic<\/a> home protection offers superior protection with advanced whitelisting technology. \u00a0For enterprise use, there is PC Matic Pro<\/a>, which offers advanced security protection with proprietary whitelisting technology.<\/p>\n

But what if it\u2019s too late, and you\u2019ve already become a victim of ransomware<\/a>? \u00a0What do you do now? \u00a0We suggest following these five steps:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Do not pay the ransom<\/b> \u2013 If you do, you\u2019re just giving the hackers a reason to keep hacking. \u00a0Use your backup files to restore your systems. \u00a0Again, don\u2019t pay!!<\/li>\n
  2. Inform the FBI<\/b> \u2013 By informing the FBI they can investigate to potentially bring legal action against the hacker. \u00a0All cyber criminal activity should be reported to the federal IC3 agency. \u00a0You can file a complaint with them here<\/a>.<\/li>\n
  3. Notify your current security software company<\/b> \u2013 You also MUST inform your security software company. \u00a0If they didn\u2019t know they missed a malicious attack, they cannot stop it in the future. \u00a0Also, many anti-virus software companies share their blacklist, or the list of known bad files. \u00a0So by sharing it with your software company, they then share it with others; saving thousands of people from falling victim to the same attack that just got you.<\/li>\n
  4. Educate yourselves and your employees <\/b>\u2013 Many times we attend one training, or listen to one webinar and consider ourselves educated on the matter. \u00a0This cannot be further from the truth. \u00a0Continued education on current cyber security threats is imperative. \u00a0We recommend our friends at KnowBe4<\/a> for both personal and enterprise training on cyber security. \u00a0As always, all PC Matic home security subscribers are offered a free cyber security training<\/a> through KnowBe4 as well.<\/li>\n
  5. Reevaluate your security software protection<\/b> \u2013 If your security software failed you, perhaps you should look for an alternative security option. \u00a0The world needs better security. \u00a0We got it.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    To read the full PC Pitstop Second Quarter Report, you can do so here: PCPitstop-Quarterly_Report_Q2_2016<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Ransomware has continued to evolve within the second quarter of 2016, with new variants popping up all over the place…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":54,"featured_media":53460,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center 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