Malware and Ransomware

“Hi company, Every byte of any types of your devices was encrypted. Don’t try to use backups because it were encrypted too.”

This was the message on the screens of the workers in the Johnson City goverment in October 2019.

The hackers instructed them to email them and their files would be unencrypted. But luckily, they didn't need to do that.

Just two weeks before the attack, the Johnson City govornment set up a storage area network. This allows you to access your data from a seperate device, but does not prevent an attack.

The Johnson City Govornment had to clear the hard drives of 349 computers and buy new ones. That cost $350,000.

What caused all of this?? Experts say it was a type of malware called an email phishing attack.

What types of malware are there?

Malware means malicious software.

Malware is an executable program that gets installed unintentionally and harms the user and their device. Malware can also spread to other computers.

There are 3 types of malware: Trojan horses, worms, and viruses.

Trojan horses look like free programs that you can download, but when you try to download them, you are actually downloading malware. Many Trojan horses are disguised as security updates.

Worms look for little holes in your network and try to get in. If they can, then they duplicate on everything connected to the network.

Viruses spread to other pieces of software and use it to repicate itself and (if the program contacts other devices) spread it to other devices.

The objectives (the 'payload') of malware are to lock down your device for a ransom, spy on you and find your passwords, personal information, and credit card numbers, delete or lock down your files, or let someone control your computer.

Some malware makes many devices make requests to a server. That is called a DDOS, or a Distributed Denial Of Service attack. Many computers send requests to the server (distrubuted) until the server shuts down and can't serve the website anymore (denial of service).

How to prevent malware problems

To prevent malware problems, you can use the security updates, not click on suspicious links that you get on messages, email, or other other communication apps or social networkings sites, and only installing software that you know is legitimate.

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