No Fear – Bring on the Phishing and Ransomware

I don’t live my life in fear, and I don’t promote fear.  Tomorrow (Nov 28, 2019) I’m going to take a long drive in the snow to have a meeting with a mentor.  I could cancel, I could be afraid of the snow, but I am looking at the long-term benefit, not the short term fear.  This blog is not about elevating fear.  Period.

The Coles Notes are that there are bad guys out there who have made a business taking advantage of profitable businesses.  Their deception of choice is phishing; their coercion, ransomware.  Worst case scenario, your business goes belly up because your data is lost, but more than likely your attacker knows what you can afford and you take the hit.

What is Phishing?

Phishing is when an attacker lures you into giving up your username and password willingly by deception.  It is a trick.  You get an email from a friend with a link to a document and you put in your username and password for Office 365, except it was an attacker pretending to be your friend, and now they have access to all your files in OneDrive and your email and contacts.

What is Ransomware?

Ransomware is a virus that encrypts your data, preventing you from accessing it, until you pay a ransom, usually in Bitcoin, to the attacker.

What can a Micro Business do?

First: suspect any email that has link to document or website where you have to enter a username and password.  You can inspect the link in an email by hovering over it.  If it looks weird don’t open it.  Also, ask yourself, is it normal to receive this kind of thing from the person sending it?  If it seems off, phone the sender.

Second:  install a second-generation antivirus program, one that blocks computer activity, versus an antivirus that blocks historically defined programs.  Sentinel One is a good choice.

Third: do I have to say this?  Have a backup.  Yes, unfortunately, some people chose to operate without a backup.  If your people fail, and then the attacker outsmarts your antivirus, your backup will save the day.

Fear is no way to live; if you’re a micro business owner, you’re past that anyways.  That being said, we don’t need to live on the edge of a cliff without some assurance in place.