Bye-bye Ransomware! ACYA later!

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In the latest months new and peskier ransomware variants are dramatically affecting both Windows and OS X computers.

In the worst-case scenario, your files get thoroughly encrypted and the only way to get them back is to pay the ransom.

    

This reaffirms once more the importance of the first IT commandment: ACYA (Always Cover Your Ass).

Cyber criminal organizations are ransacking billions of dollars from companies and individuals, because of the laziness of the average home users and of the faulty way cyber security is implemented in numerous corporate (especially small-sized) environments.

Cyber security is often not distinguished from IT in general and each dollar spent on it is considered as a mere accounting cost with no return. Cyber security ROI (yes, I have a Business degree, too) is extremely high, instead, because it translates in billions of dollars saved on data loss, lawsuits and goodwill deterioration.

Top and middle management should start considering that being on top of the known and potential vulnerabilities for the software installed is not a mere administrative job.

It's a pre-requirement for the very survival of the company. I'm delving into pentesting and in my coming posts I'm going to show how easy it is to hack into a firewalled system (for educational purposes only, of course).

If your browser is vulnerable to certain exploits and one of your users clicks an infected link…bang! Some guys like me can hack in and not everyone is on the good side like I am.

There's an easy way to stop these cyber criminals and prevent them from damaging your information and extorting money from you.

BACKUP! BACKUP! BACKUP!

Be paranoid, keep 3 identical copies of each file, don't open email attachments from people you don't know and use the cloud to get additional emergency storage.

KEEP LOCALLY ONLY WORTHLESS FILES YOU DON'T CARE TO LOSE.

This way, should a ransomware infect your system, you can give it your finger and be operational in half an hour.

Sounds like a plan?

I'm planning on analyzing how a ransomware works by running some samples in a lab environment.

Stick around!