When is Paying the Ransom in Ransomware Recovery a Good Idea?

Ransomware is the weird evolution of computer viruses from this ubiquitous entity online that dips into every little part of the web to an intentional and focused direct attack. The idea is actually somewhat archaic. Ransomware can often manifest as a skull as a desktop background, a frozen computer, and few options but to kind of admire the cleverness despite how awful it is. There is also the consideration of actually paying the ransom.

The Basics of Ransomware

Ransomware is a deliberate attack on an individual system file in an effort to get payment. The hacker of sorts will block entry to the computer by locking it behind a paywall. The hacker has an encryption key. If the target pays the ransom price the hacker is asking for, the encryption key will be theoretically unlocked and the content will be released to the target.

No Theft at All

What makes ransomware appealing is that hackers are not necessarily stealing much of anything. They are blocking it. The approach is appealing for hackers who may be able to access content if hey try, but they do not necessarily know what to do with it and what they have. This approach is assuming the content is valuable, but only really for that person. They block the system and hope for ransom payment.

Can a Ransom Be Paid?

The big point of advice in ransomware recovery is to not pay the ransom. Why? Unlike television, there is no middle place or meeting ground for when a deal can take place. The target pays it and they can only hope that their computer system files are released. There is no guarantee that this will occur, and in at least 1 in 4 scenarios, there is no release of the system files. The number may be conservative, forgoing reports from those too frustrated, embarrassed, or unwilling to disclose details of them being a victim.

Is paying the ransom ever a good idea? It can be, but it should be done delicately and under the guise of a professional. Thankfully, there are ways to work out of a ransomware attack without taking this, admittedly, appealing approach. Targeted individuals can work with a professional to safeguard the system, backup contents, or breach an encryption key.

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Elasticsearch Will Probably Be Your Application of Choice for Getting Around in Your Personal Age of Information

Whomever dubbed modern times the “Age of Information” certainly was not kidding. Computing devices, the creation of great storage ability, plus the cloud have definitely made it possible to collect and also protect more info than the brain can conceive. Certainly, organizations may claim with great authority, it is actually in our files. Someplace. When huge reams of info have been gathered, the task moves to the very best method to mine it. For in reality, when it’s not possible to uncover exactly what you need, or even combine the information inside a usable fashion, it is about as valuable as the missing glove – it can’t be utilized. Fortuitously, we have now at this time outstanding lookup capabilities including Elastic search. Elastic search is known as a Lucene structured interior variety of search engine which will efficiently offers a business its own personalized Google research ability. This is basically the most popular enterprise variety of search engine.

Elasticsearch can be adapted to a corporation’s specific preferences in a variety of types of ways. For instance, people requiring a aesthetic representation involving their particular info results for delivering presentations or perhaps to help others understand ramifications will be able to use elasticsearch kibana. Kibana provides latest investigation of a company’s data files however does this visually. Almost all men and women discover best aesthetically, and a lot of businesses realize that kibana stands out as the easiest way to work with the info they’ve accumulated and thus render it via a sort that’s immediately useful. With such an aid as Kibana, it can be simple to successfully and additionally instantaneously examine and even see essential data files with the easy-to-use dashboard. Make any one of countless aesthetic products: diagrams, scatter plots, pie charts and more. Kibana, just like Elastic, is definitely open source, developed in javascript, and additionally available to all.

An additional great way to individualize Elasticsearch is by using different available Elasticsearch Plugins. elasticsearch plugins increase and additionally compliment the software’s innate functionality. They modify the essential search objective of Elastic, increasing it so it turns into able to unique mapping, unique examination, personalized detection and much more. These kind of plugins incorporate flawlessly straight into Elastic and they are easy and intuitive to work with. They permit a business or maybe organization to customize the software’s expertise to match their specific needs. Because Elasticsearch is actually open source, it’s actually a collaborative project, with many programmers around the world working away at its operation simultaneously. This helps ensure its ability to satisfy changing desires. Hosted Elasticsearch firms tend to be widely accessible for those needing this choice.

One thing that virtually every single organization likes is how Elastic makes it easy to obtain and arrange info from virtually every kind of repository that is in existence, such as that coded in a variety of codes and concluding in just about any conceivable file format. An elasticsearch cluster links together selected sources and supplies up to date results. Structured and even unstructured suppliers are generally mined with only one research query. Furthermore, it discovers data that’s kept in a variety of related containers, such as electronic mail servers, databases, intranet sources, messages, linked desktops, plus more. Schools, hospitals, companies and more just about all consider the personalized info access functions regarding Elasticsearch as being an needed support.

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Remove Ransomware Immediate to Avoid Further Problems

Malware is installed on computers when a user opens an infected file or visits a website that is infected with a virus. Malware is typically more than a minor inconvenience. It can damage or even lock files on a computer.

Removing it can also be quite expensive. Cyber criminals usually charge thousands of dollars to restore a computer after they have locked the data with their ransomware. Fortunately, there are ways to regain access to the files on a locked computer without paying a criminal.

Damage Caused by Malware

A virus can corrupt files and make them impossible or at least very difficult to restore. Savvy computer users backup their data regularly so they won’t lose it to a malware attack. If important files are not backed up on another device or server, they could be lost forever.

Cyber criminals who create viruses generally do so with the goal of financial gain. They might do this by stealing personal information off of the computer or charging the computer owner to unlock their own device.

Cost to Repair the Hardware

A computer owner may be able to repair their own system but doing so might require a lot of research and attention to detail. It’s imperative to follow each step of the directions exactly to ensure the entire infection is removed before connecting the computer to the internet again. Some people feel like the stress of removing a virus on their own isn’t worth it and they prefer to pay a professional.

Business owners that don’t have a computer technician on staff might not have the time or internal resources to deal with a virus. Whether the virus is designed to steal financial passwords or to lock the system until the owner pays a ransom, a professional can remove ransomware and other malware easily.

When a computer gets infected with a virus, it’s important to take action immediately. Delaying action could result in more serious damage to the computer and loss of even more data.

In most cases, it isn’t necessary to pay the ransom demanded by the cybercriminal. Instead, people who have been a victim of this kind of attack should get in touch with an experienced computer repair technician who specializes in removing ransomware.

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Wireless security

When you're using wireless, youare sending data from your computer to an accesspoint through the internet to a server.

The security of a data streamis only as good as the security of the weakestsegment.

Often the weakest link is thewireless link from your computer to the access point.

While your traffic is in transitbetween your computer and the access point, it issusceptible to being sniffed by anyone who is within rangeof the wireless signal.

There are two commonly usedwireless encryption protocols: WPA and WEP.

If you're managing an accesspoint, then you should set it up to use WPA or WPA2 to encryptthe traffic between your computer and theaccess point.

WPA stands for Wi-FiProtected Access.

If you're connecting to anaccess point, then you will also want one that usesand supports WPA.

WPA encrypts the traffic so thatanyone who happens to be able to sniff or intercept yourtraffic will still not be able to understand the contentsof the packets they are seeing.

Unfortunately, whether aparticular network uses WPA or not is determined by the accesspoint owner and not by the person connecting to it.

If the access point promptsfor a password, then it is probably using encryptionof some sort.

If it is open and does notprompt for a password, then your traffic is vulnerableto being sniffed.

Often your device will displaythe information about which security scheme is being used.

If there is a little padlockicon next to the network name, this indicates an encryptednetwork.

Additionally, even if you'reusing WPA, you still need to think about the security of yourtraffic once it reaches the access point.

WPA only encrypts the trafficbetween your device and the access point.

If the access point is nottrusted, then the owner of the access point can view any ofyour traffic that is not encrypted by other means.

To learn about encrypting morethan just your wireless packets, watch our tutorialson HTTPS and VPN.

Source: Youtube

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How to fix unknown error – Security Software (Win XP)

Security software can cause unwanted conflictswith iTunes on a windows pc security software does not always recogniseitunes as a friendly application, and may block it from restoring or updating this article explains how to disable securitysoftware, even if you don't know what you have on your computer.

The first step is to click on the start menu,and choose run.

What we want to type in is msconfig, whichstands for microsoft configuration.

We need to change this first part to selectivestartup And then uncheck load startup items Next we want to move to the sevices tab And tick the box next to hide all microsoftservices Once that is ticked, you can click disableall And we will move onto the startup tab.

What we want to find in here is iTunes helper,and tick the box next to that one.

Once done, hit the apply button.

You may encounter a message saying an accessdenied error was returned.

If you encounter that message it is perfectly ok, just hitthe OK message and then ok again to get out of there.

now you can restart the computer Now that your computer has rebooted, you shouldsee this message.

Click ok.

Then have a look at the startuptab.

Some security software will prevent itselffrom being disabled.

As you can see from my example, zone alarmand norton security are both still running even after we've disabled them as a startupitem Once we've identified what is still running,we will need to delete those.

We can do this by clicking the start menu,and selecting control panel.

Inside the control pane we need to find theicon "add remove programs".

Now your view may actually look a little different thanmy control panel.

But regardless of which way it looks, it will still have that icon Once the program list loads, it will looksomething like this.

Select the security software that was notdisabled earlier, and click to uninstall.

Source: Youtube

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How to fix unknown error – Security Software (Win 7)

Security software can cause unwanted conflictswith iTunes on a windows pc.

security software does not always recogniseitunes as a friendly application, and may block it from restoring or updating.

this video explains how to disable securitysoftware, even if you do not know what you have on your computer.

the first thing to do is click on the startmenu and in the search box at the bottom type in msconfig.

once the window comes up, we want to go toselective startup, and un-tick load startup items.

we'll then go across to the servicestab, hide all microsoft services, and then disable all.

we'll go across to the startuptab.

and we want to look for anything that represents itunes or apple and enable those.

once your done you can click apply and thenok.

and it should prompt you then to restart the computer.

now that the computer is restarted, we'regoing to go back down to the start menu and type in msconfig one more time.

once the windowcomes up we'll go across to the startup tab.

and we're going to look for anything thatwas unticked previously and has now re-ticked itself.

in my example it is kaspersky anti-virus once we've identified what we need to getrid of we'll go to the control panel.

It's probably simpler if you change the view fromsmall icons in the top right corner to category view, that way we can go down to uninstalla program and once a list of programs loads we'll findthe security software that had re-ticked itself as we just saw.

in my example that was kasperskyanti virus once we uninstall this software, you'll befree to use itunes without any risk of the security software blocking that connection simply follow the prompts provided to uninstallthe software and if you have any questions or queries regarding how to do that, referto the software's website.

Source: Youtube

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Chrome Packaged Apps – Security Model

Hello! My name is Adam Barth and I work onthe Chrome team’s packaged apps effort.

I am here to talk to you about the securitymodel of packaged apps.

Packaged apps have access to features andservices that a normal web app would never have access to.

Users need to be confidentthat the apps they install will not behave in unexpected ways that endanger their system.

Chrome has a variety of defenses and protections that make it easier for you to create saferapps.

The first is process and storage isolation.

One of the foundations of the web security model is that a web app or site on one domainis not allowed to affect the data held in another.

This same principle is upheld forpackaged apps too.

 Even though an app is installed, actions inside it should not beable to directly affect data in another.

Each packaged app runs in its own process,so if something goes awry it will not directly affect apps running on the user’s system.

The data stored in each app is also sandboxed and isolated from other packaged applicationsinstalled on the user’s system.

This means that a file saved in the app will only bevisible to the app and the user that created it.

Secondly, Chrome makes use of a technology called Content Security Policy, commonly knownas CSP.

This technology helps protect users and developers from common cross-site scriptingattacks that can be found on the web.

 In fact CSP is enforced by default for everypackaged app.

Because packaged apps have access to evenmore features than a web app, CSP has disabled some features that you might expect as a developersuch as: Inline scripts like click handlers and <script>tags with code inside and ‘eval’ and the ‘new function’methods We know that sometimes you need to use thesefeatures so we’ve introduced a feature called “sandboxed pages”.

 These are pages inyour app that use all the features of the current web such as eval, new Function andinline script tags, but importantly have no direct access to advanced packaged app features.

The third protection in apps is the permissions model.

Apps can’t just use any feature theywant.

The user needs to have granted access to this feature.

 You can easily declareyour apps intent by configuring the permissions that you need in the manifest file.

For exampleyou can declare that your app needs access to the user’s video camera, or access toraw sockets.

Finally another security measure is the <browser>tag for web content.

Imagine you are building an RSS feed readerthat will show news articles in the app experience.

Adding web content directly is dangerous,as you have no control over what external authors are adding to their content.

Howeverthe user experience demands that you show the content.

The <browser> tag is like aniframe in that it will allow you to embed web content into your app from an externalresource but it is entirely isolated from your app.

This was just a quick overview of the security model for packaged apps.

To learn more on how to develop packaged apps visit developer.

Chrome.

Com/apps.

Source: Youtube

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CrowdStrike Partners with Coverity to Ensure Software Security

Hi, my name is George Kurtz, Chief ExecutiveOfficer at CrowdStrike and one of the co-founders.

Formerly, I spent about seven years at McAfee,most recently as their Chief Technology Officer and before that I was the Chief ExecutiveOfficer at a company called, Foundstone, which I founded and I am one of the co-authors ofHacking Exposed.

So the security landscape has dramaticallychanged of the last ten years.

Where system administrators and companies used to havea very easy to manage website, maybe a simple database those times have changed dramatically.

Now we have a lot more complexity with cloud environments, we have complexity with dataand understanding where that data is at and ultimately the bad guys have gotten smarter.

And because they have gotten smarter and because their techniques have evolved dramaticallyfrom exploiting simple buffer overflows to a range of new techniques that are very hardto defend against, it's really imperative for organizations to start at the foundationallevel and understand if their code is actually secure before they deploy it.

As you might imagine, security is absolutely critical because CrowdStrike is in the securitybusiness.

We know that our software is going to be attacked and for us it was absolutelycritical to build security in from the ground up.

We needed to insure that we were releasingthe highest quality code without any security vulnerabilities, to insure our customer safetyand that is really one of the primary reasons why we decided to partner with Coverity sincethe beginning of the formation of the company.

One of our goals at CrowdStrike is to helpour customers identify and prevent damage from targeted attacks.

What we have seen attackersdo over the years is really run the same plays.

They'll spearfish, they'll exploit a commonvulnerability, they'll get into a system and they'll exfiltrate data.

And that entry pointinto the system almost all the time is based upon the exploitation of a vulnerability.

That vulnerability could have been caught a lot earlier in the development process ifcompanies embraced a technology like Coverity.

What was critical for CrowdStrike is to makesure we didn't disrupt our development process which is one of the reasons we chose Coveritybecause we could build it into our CrowdStrike secure development lifecycle.

So our developersnow get actionable information.

Most importantly it's accurate.

They know exactly what to fixand how to fix it and for us, time is money and we can get our code out that much faster.

One of the challenges I have seen over my career is that security auditor are alwaystrying to force feed a security product into the development lifecycle.

And the thing thatI love about Coverity is it actually provides a way to bridge the gap between developmentand security and really focuses the effort on building a product from the ground up thatis secure rather than coming in after the fact, after the requirement s have been made,after the products have been built and doing a static audit.

And what I have seen is thatit is about ten times more expensive to actually fix a security defect after the fact as opposedto when it was actually being built.

At CrowdStrike, I believe we have some ofthe best security engineers and programmers in the world and the last thing they wantto be doing is dealing with is dealing with false positives.

And one of the things thatwas really attractive to us was is a really low false positive rate from Coverity.

Sowe know when we see defect, it's probably going to be real and it's something we needto address immediately.

Which has really been a win-win and one of the reasons our developersactually use the product as opposed to putting it on the shelf.

Over the coming years, the security landscape is going to continue change.

The adversariesare going to get smarter, they are going to become more destructive and really it is incumbentsecurity professionals and developers to solve this really hard problem.

And I often seedevelopers left out the solution.

The reality is, if the developers are empowered with theright technology, they can eliminate security vulnerabilities from the beginning duringthe development phase which ultimately keeps all of our customers more secure.

Source: Youtube

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Computer Security | Federal Trade Commission

Every day you hear aboutscammers, hackers, and thieves, trying to use theinternet to steal your money and your financialinformation.

The fact is you, me, we, canfoil many of their attempts.

Every day, we do things to makeit tough for bad guys to break into our homesand our cars.

We can make it tougher forthem to break into our computers too.

Here are some ways to foila hacker and protect your financial information.

Install security softwareon your computer.

Well-known companies offerplenty of free options.

Set the software to updateautomatically so it can deal with any new security threats.

While you're at it, set youroperating system and web browser to update automaticallytoo.

If you're not sure how, use theHelp function and search for automatic updates.

If you get a phone call, anemail, a text, or a pop-up that says your computer has avirus or malware, don't buy the story or the securitysoftware they're selling.

It could be a trick to get youto buy software that's worthless or even harmful.

Treat your financial informationlike cash.

It's a hot commodity.

If someone asks for yourfinancial information, say your social security, creditcard, or bank account number, ask why they need it and howthey're going to protect it.

If you think you've found agood deal online but you aren't familiar with thecompany, dig a little deeper.

A quick internet search withthe name of the company and the word review or complaintcan reveal a lot.

Always look for a physicaladdress and phone number too.

That way you know who to contactif there's a problem.

Don't provide your personal orfinancial information unless the website you'reon is secure.

If the URL doesn't start withhttps, don't enter your financial information.

That S stands for secure.

It means the information you'resending is encrypted and protected.

Make your passwords count.

They should be at least 10characters and a mix of numbers, letters, andspecial characters.

Don't use your name, birthdate, or common words.

Don't use the same passwordfor several accounts as tempting as that maybe.

If it's stolen, hackerscan use it to access your other accounts.

Keep your passwords in a secureplace, and don't share them with anyone.

Back up your computer files.

For example, copy importantfiles to an external hard drive on a regular basis.

That way if there's a problemwith your computer, you won't lose everything.

Life is online whether you liveit using a smartphone, a tablet, a laptop, or a desktop,it's a good time to make computer securitya habit.

Find out more atOnGuardOnline.

Gov, the federal government's site to helpyou be safe, secure, and responsible online.

Source: Youtube

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