The short answer: ransomware is malicious software that encrypts your files and demands a ransom to give them back. You cannot avoid it entirely, but you can prepare: keep everything updated, be careful with attachments and passwords, and above all keep a backup the program cannot reach. With that backup, a ransom demand turns from a disaster into an inconvenience.
How it arrives
| Way in |
How to close it |
| An attachment or link in an e-mail |
Be suspicious, and do not open what you were not expecting. See how to recognise phishing. |
| A stolen or weak password |
Long, unique passwords, and two-step verification. An FTP or SSH login with a reused password is an open door. |
| Out-of-date software |
Update the system, the browser, WordPress, themes and plugins. See abandoned plugins and old PHP. |
| Pirated software |
Do not install “cracked” programs, nor paid themes and plugins taken free from unofficial sites. |
Can a hosted website be encrypted too?
The textbook case of ransomware is a person’s computer. On a shared hosting account, what can happen is a simpler version: someone gets in through a password or a vulnerable plugin, deletes or alters files and leaves a note asking for money. Accounts at Interweb run isolated from each other, which stops a compromised neighbour reaching your files, but does not stop your account being used if the password is stolen: see what we do and what stays yours.
What to do to be ready
| 1 |
Keep a copy out of reach. An external drive that stays plugged into the computer is encrypted along with everything else. After copying, unplug it, or keep the copy somewhere your everyday computer has no write access to.
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| 4 |
Limit who can change what. Everyone gets their own login, with only the permissions they need.
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Keep a one-page plan on paper too: who warns whom, where the backup is, how to reach support. Ransomware preys on people who panic, and a simple list prevents hasty decisions, such as paying or deleting everything.
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If you are hit, take the device off the network and Wi-Fi at once, so the program does not spread to other computers and shared drives. Do not pay in a hurry: authorities and security specialists advise against it, because paying does not guarantee the files come back and marks you as someone who pays. First see what you have in backup.
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Did your site change, or stop opening, all of a sudden? Tell us what you saw and at what time.
Open a support ticket
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