No Ransom: a place for free decryption

Although a ransomware infection might feel targeted, you’re not the only one who’s been infected. Ransomware is spreading at an alarming rate, but the further it goes, the more resources are allocated to fighting it. If your data is held hostage, always check these lists for free decryptors first.

The state of ransomware in 2017

It’s been almost 30 years since malware was first created that could encrypt locally-stored data and demand money in exchange for its safe return. Known as ransomware, this type of malware has gone through multiple periods of popularity. 2006 and 2013 saw brief spikes in infections, but they’ve never been as bad as they are now.

In 2015, the FBI estimated that ransomware attacks cost victims $24 million, but in the first three months of 2016 it had already racked up more than $209 million. At the beginning of 2017, more than 10% of all malware infections were some version of ransomware.

Zombie ransomware is easy to defeat

Not every type of infection is targeted to individual organizations. Some infections may happen as a result of self-propagating ransomware strains, while others might come from cyber attackers who are hoping targets are so scared that they pay up before doing any research on how dated the strain is.

No matter what the circumstances of your infection are, always check the following lists to see whether free decryption tools have been released to save you a world of hurt:

• Kaspersky Lab’s No Ransom list
• Avast’s free decryption tools
• Trend Micro’s Ransomware File Decryptor
• Fightransomware.com's Breaking Free list

Prevention

But even when you can get your data back for free, getting hit with malware is no walk in the park. There are essentially three basic approaches to preventing ransomware. First, train your employees about what they should and shouldn’t be opening when browsing the web and checking email.

Second, back up your data as often as possible to quarantined storage. As long as access to your backed-up data is extremely limited and not directly connected to your network, you should be able to restore everything in case of an infection.

Finally, regularly update all your software solutions (operating systems, productivity software, and antivirus). Most big-name vendors are quick to patch vulnerabilities, and you’ll prevent a large portion of infections just by staying up to date.

Whether it’s dealing with an infection or preventing one, the best option is to always seek professional advice from seasoned IT technicians. It’s possible that you could decrypt your data with the tools listed above, but most ransomware strains destroy your data after a set time limit, and you may not be able to beat the clock. If you do, you probably won’t have the expertise to discern where your security was penetrated.

Don’t waste time fighting against a never-ending stream of cyber attacks -- hand it over to us and be done with it. Call today to find out more.

5 G Suite updates and improvements in 2017

Google’s cloud platform G Suite has been getting a lot of attention from businesses recently. It’s an incredibly powerful tool that enhances collaboration, boosts productivity, and cuts IT costs. And just when you thought it couldn’t any better, Google releases monthly updates for their cloud software. To save you the trouble of looking through pages of patch notes, here are some of the most useful upgrades in 2017 so far.

Shared file storage for teams The Team Drives feature, publicly released in March, is Google’s take on team file sharing. Like many cloud platforms, users can store documents, photos, and other files in the cloud and share them with colleagues. The big difference, however, is that content ownership and file permissions are managed at the team level. This makes it easy to give access to team documents for new members and allow teams to retain important files should the original creator of the document leave the company.

Mobile management for iOS For those who access G Suite via iPhones and iPads, Google has developed Mobile Device Management services. This feature enables companies to secure personal iOS devices without intruding on an employee’s private information. When the “Basic” security option is enabled, for instance, administrators can prompt users to implement a lock screen, wipe data from compromised devices remotely, and keep track of device inventory.

Form templates G Suite’s Forms function helps you quickly create professional-looking online forms and surveys by giving you access to 100 different file templates to work with. And once you load any of them, you can simply customize the form by dragging and dropping new design elements or removing any unneeded sections.

Centralized search In February, Google launched Google Cloud Search, a tool that allows employees to search across all G Suite products such as Drive, Gmail, Docs, Calendar, Contacts, and Sites. The feature takes into account file-sharing permissions, meaning users can access only documents they’re allowed to see.

In addition to retrieving documents, Cloud Search can function as a digital phone book, displaying employee contact information and team schedules with a simple search query. And when viewing a contact’s information in the search results, G Suite gives you the option to start an email, phone call, or Hangout session.

Instant references and citations The Explore function, found at the bottom-right corner of every G Suite document, suggests relevant research material -- like journals, articles, and published papers -- for your reports or essays. A few months ago, Google further enhanced this feature by adding the ability to automatically create footnotes and bibliographies -- in any citation style -- when you use content from a recommended source.

We’ve merely scratched the surface of G Suites updates. And with more powerful upgrades set to be released in the coming months, you need to stay abreast of Google developments to make sure you don’t miss out on time-saving features. If you want to be the first to know what new improvements G Suite has to offer, contact us today.

Disable Microsoft’s new desktop ads

Digital advertisements are ubiquitous across the internet. And just as users started to come to terms with that, Microsoft has taken ads one step further. The Windows File Explorer has begun to show ads for services like O365 and OneDrive, and if you’re wondering how to disable them, this article is for you.

Who is getting these ads?

Right now, we’re still unsure of how widespread Microsoft’s new advertising strategy goes. Not every Windows workstation has started displaying File Explorer banners, and based on some overwhelmingly negative reactions online, the campaign might get shut down before it even reaches your desktop.

However, even if you have yet to be targeted, you can quickly and easily disable these ads right now.

How do I turn them off?

At the moment, these pushy promotions show up only in Windows’ File Explorer window, so that’s where we’ll begin. After you’ve opened a new window, there are only five steps to boot them off your screen:

1. Select View from the ribbon along the top of any File Explorer window.
2. Click Options on the far righthand side.
3. In the new window select the View tab.
4. In the Advanced Settings window pane, scroll down and deselect ‘Show sync provider notifications’.
5. Click Apply and close the Folder Options window.

That’s all it takes! Keep in mind that we highly recommend the services Microsoft chose to advertise with this move. Office 365, OneDrive, and others are all great cloud platforms for safely working and collaborating from any device in any location -- we just don’t want to see advertisements for them when we’re hunting down sales records.

When you’re in the market for the Windows tips and tricks, this is the best blog on the web. If you’re looking for something a little more robust however, our managed services are second to none. Get in touch with us today to learn more!