{"id":4724,"date":"2016-05-10T10:28:52","date_gmt":"2016-05-10T10:28:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/horsington.blog2.idnet.com\/?p=4724"},"modified":"2016-05-10T10:28:52","modified_gmt":"2016-05-10T10:28:52","slug":"ransomware-advice-from-milborne-port-computers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/horsington.blog2.idnet.com\/?p=4724","title":{"rendered":"Ransomware advice from Milborne Port Computers"},"content":{"rendered":"

We are\u00a0grateful\u00a0to Milborne Port Computers<\/a> for some timely advice on the latest scam- Ed<\/em><\/p>\n

Over the past month a new version of an old\u00a0scam, fraud, virus (whatever you want to call it) has cropped up.\u00a0 Ransom-ware is when your computer becomes infected by a piece of software that encrypts all your data (documents, pictures & music etc) and demands payment of a substantial fee to unlock your stuff.\u00a0 The virus also recursively scans USB storage and network drives, including Dropbox etc.\u00a0 The new development is that the scam email that you receive to start things off now includes your name & address<\/strong>, as well as being well written without the usual spelling mistakes and Americanisms.<\/p>\n

The email says that you owe money to a variety of well known British companies and charities and invites you to download the offending invoice:\u00a0 Following the download link is what infects your computer.\u00a0 Within a few seconds, much of your data will have been encrypted and a \u2018ransom note\u2019 is displayed on your screen telling you to pay up or loose your data forever.\u00a0 The longer you leave it, the more you have to pay!<\/p>\n

Now, I have always advocated NEVER to pay the ransom as there is no guarantee that you\u2019ll get your data unlocked and your money will just disappear into the ether; however the choice is yours.\u00a0 If you do choose not to pay then removing the virus and cleaning up the computer is usually fairly straightforward but history tell us that your data is gone for good.\u00a0 It may be inconvenient and it may be upsetting, but is it really life changing?<\/p>\n

On a more positive note, email is rarely affected as many of us now use webmail and on-line mailboxes that cannot be accessed by the virus.\u00a0 As much of your data may be sent and received by email you are often able to recover a goodly bit.<\/p>\n

How could you avoid this?<\/strong>\u00a0 You can\u2019t stop the incoming email if you are unfortunate enough to get one but you can be vigilant and be savvy enough to realise that it is a scam.\u00a0 Just delete the email!\u00a0 Secondly you should have good anti-virus software to block the virus if you do follow the download link, and finally you should have a good backup system on-line or on a removable drive that is not permanently connected to your computer.<\/p>\n

Computer advice in Horsington is available from Gregg Pyne on 01963 370713<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We are\u00a0grateful\u00a0to Milborne Port Computers for some timely advice on the latest scam- Ed Over the past month a new version of an old\u00a0scam, fraud, virus (whatever you want to call it) has cropped up.\u00a0 Ransom-ware is when your computer becomes infected by a piece of software that encrypts all your data (documents, pictures & … Continue reading “Ransomware advice from Milborne Port Computers”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2757],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4724","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6glYD-1ec","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/horsington.blog2.idnet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4724","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/horsington.blog2.idnet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/horsington.blog2.idnet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/horsington.blog2.idnet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/horsington.blog2.idnet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4724"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/horsington.blog2.idnet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4724\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4725,"href":"http:\/\/horsington.blog2.idnet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4724\/revisions\/4725"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/horsington.blog2.idnet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4724"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/horsington.blog2.idnet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4724"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/horsington.blog2.idnet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4724"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}