Beware of ransomware

Your computer system is at the mercy of various risks, including the loss of data due to hardware failure or the introduction of a virus or other malicious program.

Regular data backup is a basic measure to prevent this catastrophic scenario. But in some cases, it may not be enough.

In recent years, a new variety of malicious software has emerged: ransomware. They usually enter your computer system via an e-mail with a suspicious attachment accidentally opened or via an uncontrolled USB key.

Once the ransomware is installed on your computer, it will discreetly encrypt some or all of the disk, then one day display a message on your screen asking for payment of an amount to provide a key to unlock the files or the encrypted disk.

If the ransomware has been working discreetly for several days or weeks before appearing, there is a high risk that the last backups made will themselves be encrypted. In this case, it will be necessary to find a backup before the ransomware is introduced and thus resolve to lose the most recent data.

The Reporting and Analysis Centre for Information Assurance MELANI has published an article on this subject and provides useful information to avoid these problems. In particular, it recommends that no ransom be paid in order to avoid fuelling this extortion industry.

Note that using BiblioMaker in the Cloud is one of the measures that allows you to protect yourself against data loss for your library: if your computer were to become infected, the data in the cloud would be protected.