How to Stay Safe in the Face of Scarab Ransomware Attacks

A new breed of vicious spam emails has been unleashed upon the world wide web. The campaign known as Scarab ransomware was first noticed by security experts on November 23, 2017 and reached 12.5 million email addresses in the first four hours of its release. The SCARAB campaign utilizes the notorious Necurs botnet, one of the largest botnets in the digital world. It has been recognized for delivering some the most relentless banking Trojans ever reported since its emergence on the cybercrime scene in 2012. Back in November, this botnet emitted spam emails that contained a classic “Scanned from Lexmark/Epson/HP/Canon” subject line to encourage victims to engage. Once the emails were opened, one click on their enclosed 7zip attachment was all it took for a computer to become completely compromised. Files were instantly encrypted with the extension “[suupport@protonmail.com].scarab” and a ransom note demanded a payment amount based on the length of time it took the victim to respond. This scenario is unfortunately very common with millions of cyber attacks happening every moment. The global cost of cybercrime is expected to reach nearly $2 trillion before 2020. Unfortunately, no company is safe from an attack and many risk losing everything by making one wrong move (or one wrong click). According to ISACA’s “2015 Global Cybersecurity Status Report”, only 38% of companies are prepared to thwart cybercrime threats. While ransomware is becoming more sophisticated daily, there many are ways to prevent it from taking over your business. Here are three ways to stay safe:

1. Back-up your files

This is the most crucial step in keeping files safe and recovering them quickly. Backing up your files regularly protects you from many possible threats, from infected emails to accidental deletion and even natural disasters.

2. Keep employees up to speed

Training employees to recognize suspicious or malicious emails right away can stop an attack in its tracks. Remember to keep employees updated on the newest warning signs and have them brush up on their detection skills.

3. Update, update, update!

Don’t ignore messages from your software and anti-virus system. Always enable updates as they may patch holes in security and introduce advanced protection features. The time it takes to update your computer is well worth it when it comes to keeping your most important data out of the hands of criminals. Never click emails you are unsure about, but if you do our team of dedicated technicians can help you through it! Call us today to go over the best anti-virus software and data backup solutions to make sure you’re always one step ahead of attacks.  1-855-841-2005