The Internet has been around for quite awhile now, having birthed entire industries and changed the way economies function. Having been a primarily benevolent force to the world by providing jobs and advancing knowledge in general, among many other things, it has also provided new avenues and outlets for criminals to become more creative. Consider the following: technology and the Internet are like cars in a way. Most of us drive them, but most of us don’t know the details of their underlying mechanics, making it is easy for crooked mechanics to take advantage of the naive and unsuspecting. These crooked mechanics have a certain sense of power over someone who can only drive a car because they possess the necessary knowledge of how to fix something their customers have brought to them, but also need in their everyday lives. In a way, when you put something your entire life relies so much on into someone else’s hands, that someone can very easily extort you. They can charge you whatever their heart desires to ‘fix’ it, or return it you for that matter, because they know you really do need it. Now apply this same exact concept to computer users who store massive amounts of important data on their computer. If the ability to access ones own data is taken away, that data can very easily be taken hostage. Whoever takes it can put a ransom on your precious information and milk you for everything you’re worth. This happens to Internet users everyday in the form of a phishing scam known as ‘ransomware.’ Businesses, especially, are at greater risk of falling prey to the criminals behind scams like this because a company’s information can be accessed from a number of portals. All it takes is one unsuspecting employee to fall prey to an email that might appear to be something as harmless as a “terms of service update.” That is exactly how a new strain of Russian ransomware, Maktub, is infecting unsuspecting users. In other words, people are simply handing the keys to their ‘car’ over to the criminals behind this scam and then being charged ridiculous amounts of money to get their ‘keys,’ or data, if you will, back from the online kidnappers. Maktub, the Russian ransomware, is professionally employing these sorts of social engineering tricks. Once the user has clicked the bait and opened the document, “a fake TOS update in .rtf format [appears]. However, in the background, their files are being encrypted.” Maktub’s technology is highly advanced and dangerous. In addition to encrypting your files, which they manage to do offline without any sort of key, the victim’s files are compressed as well. Once this happens, it almost seems like the kidnappers of your data are toying with you. They offer users a “cold-comfort-demo” where they can choose two files to decrypt and receive back. So they steal your precious information then try to be polite about the fact they have essentially taken the keys to any business’ or person’s life hostage in every sense of the word. I suppose it makes sense, though, to try and prove they are trustworthy enough to hold up their end of the bargain after a payment is made. The ransom debt basically works like a credit card. The first three days are set at 1.4 BTC and as time goes on the price increases, like you are paying them interest for doing you some sort of favor. After 15 days the ransom is set at 3.9 BTC and there is “no guarantee that [they] saved the key.” In other words, they threaten to erase everything they stole in order to instill you with the fear of never being able to access your precious data again.

Many experts believe that we are now entering a new era of hacking, cyber attacks, and threats to cybersecurity. If you just read or watch the news on a regular basis, it is very easy to see why experts hold this point of view. Every day there are news reports of cyber attacks that are targeting major websites, organizations, individuals. The frequency and severity of these cyber attacks indicates that hackers are gaining momentum. The most recent case of a cyber attack on the Internet is a ransomware attack, which targeted major media websites. What is TeslaCrypt Ransomware? In this most recent case, the hackers used the Angler Exploit Kit in order to deliver the TeslaCrypt ransomware. The Angler Exploit Kit refers to a malicious toolkit that consists of multiple exploits combined into one package for the convenience of hackers and criminals. Traditionally, the TeslaCrypt ransomware is a trojan that specifically targets computers that have game programs installed. However, hackers have developed a new variant of this ransomware that is able to infect computers that don’t have these computer games installed. Chances are this new variant of the TeslaCrypt ransomware is what was involved in this case. Who was Affected? Major media websites were targeted by this attack. Some of these major media websites include the NY Times, AOL, BBC, MSN, Newsweek, and the Hill. The ransomware specifically targeted the ad networks of these websites. According to Malwarebytes, there was a huge increase in malicious traffic to these websites and many others during this time. This indicates that the perpetrators of this attack are experienced hackers who have committed similar attacks many times in the past. What makes this case different is that the cyber criminals managed to obtain the expired domain of an advertising company that is small, but likely legitimate. Acquiring this domain made it easy for the criminals to infect computers with ransomware without immediate detection. Not only did Trend Micro detect similar spikes of malicious traffic to various websites, but they also noticed a spike in activity that is Angler based. According to Trend Micro, they believe the attacks could have affected as many as tens of thousands of Internet users in less than a day. The success of this attack and the number of incidents of cyber attacks involving ransomware goes to show that this type of malware is very popular among cyber criminals. Not only is ransomware convenient and easy to use, but it usually ends with major results. Therefore, criminals have no problem spending money and resources upfront to develop brand new variants of ransomware. The costs are small for the criminal, but the potential for revenue is huge. The way criminals earn revenue with ransomware is by forcing the computer user to pay money as a ransom to have the malware removed from their computer. In some cases, computer users are forced to pay as much as $300 to have the ransomware removed from their computer. How to Protect Yourself Against Ransomware Unfortunately, it is very difficult for Internet users to protect themselves against ransomware due to its prevalence and effectiveness. The best way Internet users can protect themselves is by backing up their computer on a regular basis. That way, they can simply restore their computer to a previous back up instead of paying the ransom if the user finds that their computer is infected with ransomware. Computer users should also keep their anti-virus software on their computer up to date, because software companies are constantly making updates to the software to protect against new variants of ransomware.

Staggering statistics were published stating that by 2019, the managed-services market is expected to see growth by as much as $193 billion . What is it about this particular business model that is so wildly successful? It seems a large percentage of small- and medium-sized businesses are very much in favor of these services, and there are a number of good reasons why. Why the Demand for Managed Services? We have already established that business owners are drawn to the managed-services business model, but why? What is it that owners are hoping to get out of such services, and how can you use those wants to market your services?  Research shows that the reason our clients choose our services are not necessarily the reasons why we think they should. Business owners are looking for a wide range of benefits when they opt for a managed services model, and what they want is: To improve the efficiency and dependability of their IT operations. Enhanced security and compliance. A proactive approach to maintenance. Cost effectiveness and a good return on investment. Free up IT staff to work on strategic projects. Have greater access to new technologies. Lacks in-house IT capabilities for certain functions. Shifting capital expenses to operating expenses. Predictable pricing and manageable costs. Let’s take a closer look at some of the more pressing reasons why managed services are becoming the obvious choice for small to medium sized business owners. More Efficient and Reliable IT Operations This is one of the main reasons that companies with over 100 employees decide that managed services are the right choice for them. Often, the businesses we partner with as managed-service providers are suffering from overburdened IT staff, or lack employees that have the knowledge and skills to handle certain tasks and successfully handle the entire network on their own. In these situations, it is hard to deny the value of working with an outside IT service provider. A majority of businesses using managed-services describe their partnership with their provider as a collaborative arrangement with their internal IT department, leading one to believe that certain aspects of IT management fall into the MSP bucket while others are preferably handled in-house. The driving force for these business owners is to improve and enhance the capabilities of the in-house IT team, not replace them altogether. Outsourcing IT not only ensures an extra team of IT experts to help resolve any issues or concerns but to be able to benefit from having access to the latest and greatest technology and innovative business grade solutions that will assist in maximizing uptime and profitability. These technologies include such things as: Remote monitoring and management (RMM) Backup and disaster recovery (BDR) Cloud computing By investing in these tools the entire IT infrastructure becomes more reliable and dependable, labor constraints are overcome, and internal IT departments are able to keep in control of the situation. Enhanced Security and Compliance There are so many variations of technology that store and transmit data nowadays, including tablets, operating systems, servers, smartphones, laptops and more. Because data is stored and transmitted on these devices it means their security is critical. Many business owners live in fear that they will fall victim to a security breach. As a managed service provider it is your job to make them well aware of the risks, sharing examples that have been highlighted in the media and explaining how their data and compliance practices are compromised when such an event arises. It is also crucial you address the business owners concerns about compliance, especially in industries such as health and legal, where compliance is a major concern. For these people it is important they work with a provider that is HIPAA compliant and in addition, can implement other ways to supplement additional managed security protocol, policies, and procedures. A Proactive Approach to Maintenance This is a major and important benefit to managed IT services. Business owners have little to no time to spend thinking about their IT infrastructure, worrying about things such as the dependability and speed of the network connections, and other concerns. By working with an MSP they are afforded the luxury of all-day, every-day, around-the-clock coverage. Security solutions and services such as RMM are always working to detect potential threats, vulnerabilities, or potential disturbances. When you provide fully managed IT support, bugs and issues can most often be troubleshot and remediated before they are ever a concern to the business owner. Owners are happy to pay for such a service, as CEOs and others have no time to be verifying that backups are done properly. It has become more than clear that data management on the cloud is expected to yield more managed services revenue in the coming year, and when business work with the right MSP they are able to take advantage of proactive business continuity solutions, such as BDR, by combining RMM intelligence with regular and encrypted backups, cloud computing, and virtualization. Cost Effectiveness and Return on Investment The cost savings associated with managed services is considerable, making it another reason that using MSP’s is desirable. This fact has an incredible amount of business value, but many business owners are unaware of just how significant this is. It is your job as a managed service provider to explain to your clients how MSPs help control outgoing expenses and increase ROI. An IT budget consists of many items, including: hardware costs software and network infrastructure maintenance costs IT labor The businesses you work with need to understand every-way that managed services can benefit them financially, especially where the aforementioned maintenance costs are concerned. Using outdated software can have detrimental effects on ROI, and this is avoided with MSPs. In additional it provides the flexibility and scalability needed to grow or scale back in a way not possible with internal IT teams. The managed service model allows clients to easily predict their IT expenses on a monthly basis and are able to better plan and budget for

Major news sites have been exploited by hackers using a malware exploit package known as the “Angle exploit kit.” Some of the targeted sites include The New York Times, BBC, Newsweek, AOL, MSN, The Hill, and the Guardian. A bit of dark humor is in that one of the infected news pages was a Guardian article asking if cybercrime was getting out of hand. In laymen’s terms—these attacks work by infecting an otherwise trusted site then redirecting Web-page visitors to a malicious site that downloads malware into the victim’s computer. The malicious software scours the host’s computer looking for java based vulnerabilities to exploit. After finding a flank to turn it can block off all usability and accessibility to the owner’s computer and any information contained within. At that point, the end user is faced with a choice of potentially loosing vital information or paying the criminal hackers to essentially get their computer back. The popular term for this type of criminal exploit and software is called ransomware. This is an expensive problem for multiple parties. Obviously, the computer owner or end-system user is being hurt whether they pay the ransom or not. If they do not pay the ransom they will either have to spend time and money to remove the malware or spend time and money to regenerate the lost information. When these users do pay to get their computer back they are only feeding the beast. The ransomware packages are inexpensive to buy and run, and it is said they only need to get a few victims to pay to cover their cost—anything else after that is profit; profit that will oftentimes be reinvested to develop more sophisticated attacks in the future. A second victim in this is the host site, which was exploited and infected. The attacks damage the host’s credibility and could very well cost it, its visitors and thereby precious advertisement revenue. This happened to Lenovo PC, a Chinese computer company, who was targeted by a ransomware attack. Even though the company has promised a safer PC experience they are still struggling to fix their credibility and relationships with customers. A final victim in all of this (albeit a less talked about one) is the legitimate web based advertisers. Free ad blocking software is deeply affecting their long-term viability and incidents like this will only drive more and more PC users into the ad blocking software’s arms. After all, just by turning ads off altogether is another way to stop your computer from getting infected. At this point we have come full circle. Advertisement is the lifeblood of the free internet and if that is cut off it will hurt the content websites and through that the end users.

Since Babylonian times, when business records were written on clay tablets, the systems and strategies of business have evolved and changed. When seeking how to evolve in your own work, you want something that supports, enhances and protects your business. One of the most useful innovations in recent times has been the cloud. The cloud allows you to use files and applications over the Internet. Whether you are a small mom and pop shop, a solo entrepreneur or Fortune 500 company, cloud computing is the way to go forward, taking your attention to detail and the ability to work from anywhere to the next level. Cloud computing, also known as on-demand computing, is a trend that is rapidly transforming how business is done. It’s an Internet-based computing system that provides shared resources and data to many kinds of devices, from smartphones and tablets to laptops and desktop computers, giving both small and large companies the versatility to work in an on-demand access modality, with the ability to share a pool of resources. For businesses of any size, it offers a slick combination of inexpensive cost of services, performance, availability and scalability. A trend has turned into a profound movement that is transforming the world of business. Since 2012, major companies such as Netflix, Instagram, Xerox, Apple, Pinterest, Etsy, and MediaMath have taken the cloud by storm and have reinvented the way business is done. Almost all of their business is now based in the cloud. Companies like Etsy and Pinterest are large businesses with the mission of supporting small business owners and entrepreneurs. The cloud allows this alignment of big business and small business in a seamless interface. Although the beginnings of cloud computing stretch back to the 1990s, it didn’t take hold in the mainstream until 2012. According to Forbes, 37% of all U.S. small businesses are now in the cloud, but the business magazine predicts that 78% will be fully adapted to using cloud computing by 2020. Additionally, hybrid cloud, a mixture of public and private cloud platforms, is now being used by 18% of small businesses. There are several important reasons to consider moving your business to the cloud: Lower Cost There are significant savings in moving part or all of your everyday business to the cloud. Cloud computing lowers the need for on-site, physical server hardware, because cloud-based applications are hosted by the company providing that application. This means small businesses can do more with less and maximize their ability to seem bigger than they are. By using the cloud, businesses can also protect themselves from losing all their information in an expensive computer crash, because the hosting company often provides back-up services in addition to application access. Moving operations to the cloud lowers the cost of hardware, application upgrades, support and maintenance. Cloud computing systems reduce the need for the fastest computer with the most memory, thus allowing the business to buy less expensive computers for employee use in addition to saving on other hardware costs. This can be a make or break financial decision in the tight budgets of small businesses, where margins are often fractions of a dollar, and time saved and used well can make a difference in profits. Collaboration Collaboration is among the best offerings of the cloud. Business owners can monitor day-to-day business tasks in real-time, from anywhere they can connect to the Internet. The cloud gives the ability to access and save all kinds of files. Employees can work from the same master document. Cloud storage services like Google Drive have the ability for users to upload, edit, comment and save documents. Employers can pick and choose how to limit the employees access, thus allowing a divergent number of employees to work on separate documents without risking the integrity of sensitive documents. This gives an element of security that, in traditional methods of computing, would cost a small business a great deal of money. Flexibility and Mobility The cloud can be accessed anywhere, from any device, as long as it can connect to the Internet. Employees are no longer tied to one single computer containing vital documents, but can log in and access the same documents from anywhere with Internet access. This allows an employee to work from home or check in while traveling for business. More and more workers are requesting flexible working arrangements and the ability to access work from anywhere in the world. No longer will bad weather, bad traffic or illness hamper the ability to work on a document. Employees who can’t reach the office but don’t want to take time off can log in from home to work, instead. This flexibility can save employees and employers a great deal of stress in a pinch, by playing to the strength of mobility. Cloud computing allows small business owners to manage their businesses from anywhere, at any time. This has brought all the important files to the flexibility of a smartphone or tablet at a business dinner, without the bulk of paper. There’s no need for clients to wait until an executive can take them “back to the office” at a later time. This immediacy of access can transform a small business’s success. Integration Implementing a cloud-based business solution allows for a variety opportunities. Small businesses can benefit from a variety of services that other businesses provide, from banking to marketing to accounting to human resources. These opportunities allow a business to grow and succeed without having to become too big internally. It allows for speedy growth with minimal growing pains, by using established and successful back office operations to be outsourced. Adopting a cloud-based business solution creates multiple opportunities for integration — and simplified integration, at that. Cloud-adapted small businesses have the option of integrating with various cloud-based providers. This allows a small entrepreneur to focus on the aspect of business that they do best. Why aren’t you using cloud-based technology? {company} located in {city} works hard so we can provide you the best possible

Natural disasters can come at any time, regardless of human attempts to prevent the disasters. Geographic, marine, population, health and geological events can qualify as being recognized and known as natural disasters depending on their effects on human, animal, or plant life and on the earth in general. Sometimes, an event only becomes known as a natural disaster after its cumulative effects are observable as a whole. Other events, such as the ravaging brush fires in Australia, were immediately considered a natural disaster because of the desperate consequences to the affected area and the human, animal, and agricultural impacts felt from the fires. One step that can be taken to ameliorate the effects of many natural disasters by lessening or compensating for economic losses is being appropriately protected by sufficient Insurance coverage. Often, obtaining suitable insurance is as much an economic decision as a strategic and policy decision for the procuring entity having access to acceptable, affordable coverage is often problematic. The presence of insurance coverage won’t keep the trouble away, but can help restore the status quo after disaster strikes.. Disaster preparedness is essential for any business. Knowing what to do, which tools cut off which valves, the location of fire extinguishers and first aid supplies, the requisite contact information, and the location of emergency exits from any building should be ascertained upon moving to a new space. Individual employees should each be tasked with completing the practiced emergency procedure. The responsibility of accounting for the whereabouts of all personnel in an office setting should be delegated. Ideally, there should be a quarterly review of these procedures, to keep them fresh in everyone’s minds. A Municipal governmental response can be anticipated in the event of a natural disaster. The employee of a company tasked with supervising disaster preparedness should schedule a meeting with the authorities upon receiving that assignment. Even if it only results in a tour of the offices by local fire officials and first responders, that will be a fruitful meeting for establishing communication. Central government response may be treated and planned for in much the same way as any municipal response may be planned and scheduled. Identifying the appropriate offices and officials who would be expected to respond in the event of a natural disaster is important. A further necessary step is initiating communication between the official and the employee-liaison who is responsible for coordinating the staff members? Depending on the magnitude of the natural disaster, groups, such as the army, national guard, and other military branches may become involved, in addition to local and regional authorities. The local police likely have in place some type of defense plan for their jurisdiction. In addition to local response, response can be expected at the national level. Also, depending on the nature of the disaster and the response required evacuation- to-safety-plans may be required to keep individuals safe and to diffuse any crowd – related problems. These would have to be implemented by authorities having a clear mandate to keep order, probably a local police effort. No one is ever prepared for the occurrence of a natural disaster, regardless of its likelihood, magnitude, or precedent in the surrounding area. An example of this uncertainty is the eventuality of another major earthquake in the San Francisco area. While a quake has not been foreseen as to any of the particulars, one will likely occur within the next decade, unfortunately. The best things area residents can do are to be certain that they are as prepared for this and any other natural disasters that may hit. The lesson to other, less disaster-prone areas is to remain aware of potential threats and have concrete plans to render aid if disaster ever does strike.

A look at some of the many benefits that managed IT services have to offer for smaller businesses. Many associate managed IT services with big business and large corporations. However, this is one of the many reasons why small businesses ignore IT services… as they imagine they’re more trouble than they’re worth (especially without IT technicians on hand). With this being said, we’re going to cover some of the benefits that managed IT services have to offer for small business. – Significantly Less Risks – Since small businesses are not in the IT business, the event of consumer data breaches concerning hacking or Malware can be devastating. However, managed IT services can provide small businesses with the 24/7 security they need to effectively bounce back. This means that in the event of a security breach, the IT services can restore the information with the skill, resources, and speed they possess to secure and protect the data’s integrity (that would have been lost otherwise). Reduced Costs for IT Labor – Having an IT staff at all times can be very costly and time consuming for a small business. This is especially true in the event where the IT staff needs to be trained before they can be hired. Managed IT allows a small business to access highly trained professionals whenever they are needed. Expert Assistance – A managed IT platform gives small businesses 24/7 access to IT experts for assistance. Whether it be for disaster recovery or simple support, the managed IT service partner is willing to handle your security, virus and firewall protection, LAN/WAN monitoring, on-sit support, or infrastructure management needs at any given moment. Controlled Costs – Although many assume that any form of IT support is expensive, the same cannot be said with managed IT support. Most managed IT programs can tailored to the requirements (and budget) the small business needs. To make matters even better, managed IT support allows the small business to focus on core issues… as opposed to IT maintenance. Less Risk and Downtime – Managed IT allows a small business to track and analyze their information much more quickly and efficiently than in the past. Since past information is stored (regarding the small business) and can be analyzed, it leaves little room for failure or error when launching a new idea or product. By making decisions backed by information, it ultimately reduces risks and downtime associated with new ideas or products. Capacity Planning – One thing that many small businesses (operating with managed IT) realize is that they always have the managed provider’s tools at their disposal. As the small business information is constantly being monitored, the critical information (that can be used later) is stored as historical data. The data can then be used to analyze trends in capacity performance and make alterations based on the said data. Considering the information above, managed IT services and small businesses are a winning combination. With a small business focusing on the core work and managed IT focusing on data management/technical support, the relationship can survive the ever changing tides of the marketplace.

The internet is packed full of countless companies offering free website hosting, and although this sounds a little more than tempting, the old saying the best things in life are free, doesn’t really apply when it comes to websites. Most beginners who wish to start their own website want to keep the associated costs as low as possible, this is understandable. However, once you sign up for these “free website services” it won’t be long before you begin to discover the myriad of limitations that these free website have. In fact, in many cases you will find that these website services aren’t free at all – not to mention the time you will waste on creating a mediocre and ultimately ineffective website. Today, anyone can have a presence on the web, even a 12 year old can create a crappy website and be present on the web – that does not mean that you’re going to get your name or your brand  for that matter out there effectively. In this article I will share with you 10 reasons why having a free website is a terrible idea, and why you should avoid it all costs. Slow websites This is perhaps the most common negative aspect of free websites. This is because most free website hosting providers have hundreds of websites sharing the same server. This makes for a website that loads at a very slow speed, that gives a bad user experience, and is even worse for SEO. Unprofessional web address First of all, having a website with a domain name like “freewebsite.com” looks anything but professional. In fact, you can’t expect potential clients to take you or your website seriously if you don’t even have a proper domain name. Sure, some free website companies will offer custom domain names, but they usually come with a fee- making them a NOT free website, that has the same limitations as the “free” offerings. It’s just not worth it. Irrelevant and intrusive advertisements on your website The majority of these free website services are supported by advertisements that more often than not have absolutely nothing to do with you. Whats worse is that you’re creating the content on your website while your free website provider is racking in the cash for these ads. I personally am very intolerant of websites that blast me with intrusive and unattractive ads. Even if I am interested in the content of the site, a horde of ads littering the page will do nothing more than motivate me to find the information or service I am looking for elsewhere. In some cases it may be your very own competitors whose ads appear on your website! No thank you. These companies can close up shop at anytime At any time, and without notice, these free websites can decide to pack up their business and go. Before you know it they can and will shut down their servers, taking with them all the data and hard work you have put in. Think they can’t do that? Think again. Their terms and conditions give them full legal authority to do so. They can shut down your website These free websites come with terms and conditions that very clearly state that they can shut down your website at anytime, and without reason. In most cases this means that once your website has been shut down, you won’t get back any of the data, or be provided  with a way to save your content. No one needs that sort of hassle hovering over their head. Limited or no WordPress Most free website services do not allow you to install WordPress, this is because WordPress requires more resources than a free website can afford, or is willing pay. Even if you find a free website service that allows you to host WordPress, more often than not their servers are just not capable of running it. In fact, you will almost certainly come across countless errors, that will ruin your WordPress experience. They can sell your information Look, these free website providers aren’t providing these free services out of the goodness of their hearts. They are in it to make money. One way they make their money, is by selling your information to other companies. This small detail is always mentioned in the terms and conditions, unfortunately no one really reads them – which is exactly what these providers are banking on. Malware distribution Free website service providers are notorious for distributing malware. This is probably due in part to their poor security, or they could just be doing it to increase their bank account balance. At any rate, it hurts your website’s reputation and SEO. No branded email With free websites you cannot create email accounts with your own domain name. This means you will have to use your gmail or hotmail email account, this does not look professional at all. No backups Imagine you have designed and created a beautifully laid out content for your website. Now think about something bad happening to your site where all of your hard work and data is gone. This is a very real possibility when it comes to having a free website. This is because these free websites have absolutely no concept of regular backups to safeguard you from losing, or being able to restore your data. Again, it’s just not worth it. {company} offers comprehensive IT solution plans specifically designed to safeguard your organization from lost data and cyberthreats. Contact us today at {phone} or send us an email at {email} to talk more about how our offerings can enhance your operations and positively impact your bottom line.

Have You Opened Any Invoice Attachments Lately? Just this past week, a new ransomware called Locky was discovered that has security experts a little more than concerned. In fact, many IT service providers have found that it is spreading at an alarming rate, and is able to bypass antivirus, spam filtering, and web filtering solutions. That being said, if you regularly (or ever) are required to open attachments such as word documents or invoices, you will want to read this. Security researchers have recently discovered that Locky is achieving approximately 4000 new infections per hour, or around 100,000 per day. This means that statistically, you, could very well be a target. Locky is very similar to the CryptoWall virus, where it completely changes the filenames to encrypted files to make it very difficult to restore the right data, and at this time, there is no known way to decrypt files that have been encrypted by Locky. Make no mistake, this is far from your average easy to detect and remove ransomware, Locky means business. What is Locky? Aside from being far more than a minor nuisance, Locky, is a new strain of ransomware that uses two forms of social engineering to encrypt: Files Filenames Unmapped Network shares Much like its heavy hitting ransomware predecessors, it relies on email phishing to install, and thus far, experts report that these hackers are duping victims into downloading malicious attachments disguised as invoices. Security experts have been warning people to be cautious of emails that have subjects similar to ATTN: Invoice J-235434. How does Locky work? Now it’s not exactly a state secret that hackers often use social engineering to fool targets into believing that they are trustworthy by reaching out to them either online or over the phone. Fortunately, for now, Locky needs the targeted person to comply in order for it to be successfully launched. However, after examining the sophistication of the text in the body the Locky email, it is pretty easy to see how attackers are able to trick users into opening these attachments. The attack doesn’t end with a deceiving subject title however, Locky has another security layer to get past, and how it manages to do this is deviously clever. Once the attached document (or invoice) has been opened, the text will appear illegible or scrambled, this is when you will be prompted to enable macros, once you have done this, the macros will download an executable from a remote server and execute it.  The file that is downloaded by the macro will be stored in the %Temp% folder and executed – the executable is the Locky ransomware, that when started will begin to encrypt the files on your computer and network. How to protect yourself I’m sure that disabling macros across your entire company has come to mind right about now. But this isn’t exactly a feasible option considering your workforce more than likely work with a lot of legacy codes that rely heavily on macros. Instead, you will want to have weapons-grade backup/restore functionality. {company}, offers secure backups that will store and protect your data against ransomware attacks such as this, so regardless of what malicious attack you face, your data will remain safe and accessible. You can read more about {company} comprehensive Cloud Backup here https://www.hammett-tech.com/cloud-based-backup/ .   {company} offers comprehensive security and IT solution services that can safeguard your organization from a variety of malicious and targeted attacks. Contact us today at {phone} or send us an email at {email} for a free no obligation consultation pertaining to our security and Cloud backup offerings.