Planet Ransomware

If you were expecting a quiet Friday in terms of cyberattacks, this ain’t it. There are reports of a massive ransomware attack affecting computers on a global scale: in the UK, Spain, Russia, Ukraine, Japan, and Taiwan.

The ransomware variant that’s doing the damage is called WCry, also known as WannaCry or WanaCrypt0r. It has so far claimed some high-profile targets, including NHS hospitals in the UK, and telecom and banking companies in Spain.

Be calm and carry on, of course.

In the blog, we’ve been writing about ransomware over the last two years, and we have great educational resources to help you prevent or reduce the damage of an attack.

Here’s a quick overview of our content.

What is it?

Our ransomware guide: https://www.varonis.com/blog/the-complete-ransomware-guide/ 

Learning more

Free courses: https://www.varonis.com/free-security-courses 

How it spreads

Yes, it can have worm-like features: https://www.varonis.com/blog/next-gen-ransomware-ransomworm-gets-deadlier/

Can I make my own (for research purposes)?

Yes, but only under adult supervision:

https://www.varonis.com/blog/malware-coding-lessons-for-it-people-part-ii-more-fun-with-fud-ransomware/

https://www.varonis.com/blog/malware-coding-lessons-people-part-learning-write-custom-fud-fully-undetected-malware/

Reducing the risk

Limiting file access really, really helps: https://www.varonis.com/blog/the-best-ransomware-defense-dont-have-files/

Legal and Regulatory Implications

For US companies, this is what you need to know: https://www.varonis.com/blog/ransomware-the-legal-cheat-sheet-for-breach-notification/

Should you pay?

It depends:

https://www.varonis.com/blog/should-the-website-that-infected-a-pc-with-ransomware-pay/

https://www.varonis.com/blog/hospital-paid-ransom-didnt-get-all-files-back/

Is a decryption solution available?

Check here:https://www.varonis.com/use-case/ransomware-prevention 

The ultimate answer to ransomware

User Behavior Analytics (UBA): https://www.varonis.com/blog/why-uba-will-catch-the-zero-day-ransomware-attacks-that-endpoint-protection-cant/