The Latest Ransomware Twist Involves Unsuspected Phone Calls
No email or text, the latest in scam involves phone calls to unsuspected individuals. Here is an example:
Recently, the Allen Independent School District in Dallas suffered a breach. Typically, hackers would then reach out to the IT or admin for demands. In this case the target was directly to staff, students and families.
Through this breach, cybercriminals gained access to the personal information of those attending the school. Unknowing of the breach, parents began receiving phone calls and emails from hackers with demands. Parents of children in the school district were told that if district officials didn’t pay the ransom, they would release their kids’ personal information to the Dark Web. This information was taken through the ransomware attack.
What You Should Do
There are several ways to safeguard your information from ransomware attacks:
- Hang up the phone – There is no guarantee they’ll give your files back even if you pay. That’s why if you receive a threatening phone call, hang up.
- Back up data regularly – this is the best way to recover critical data if your computer is infected with ransomware.
- Never click unknown links in emails – don’t click links from unsolicited emails, it could be a phishing scam.
- Do NOT enable macros – You should never download PDF, Word or Excel files attached to unsolicited emails.
- Have strong security software – this will help prevent the installation of ransomware on your gadget.
