Ransomware Can Hold You Hostage!

Bob Larson writes Technology is Hip coluumn via 50 Plus Marketplace News for northern Colorado seniors

The recent ransomware virus attack called WannaCry affected thousands of older Windows computer systems in over 150 countries. It targeted businesses on various networks and consumers using the older Vista and XP operating systems. It cost international businesses over $40,000 in three days to get their databases back as the hacking organization charged $300 to unlock their computers.

The ransomware virus searches the Internet for a security breach in older Windows systems that locked out those users. Ransomware costs U.S. law enforcement and businesses over $1 billion last year. Thanks to a 22-year-old cybersecurity expert, who actually stopped the recent attack by turning on an internal kill switch.

Many organizations never upgrade their older Windows systems or purchase the current supported Windows 7, 8.1, or 10 operating systems with the free Windows Defender or equivalent antivirus programs. However, Microsoft recently implemented a patch in those older Windows systems to stop most ransomware attacks. Incidentally, Apple users are not prone to this recent attack!

Any business or consumer should update their Windows computers with the latest software upgrades or weekly updates, otherwise, those systems are at high risk! Current Windows system and Defender users get free updates from Microsoft (if registered) on a daily or weekly basis to prevent these types of attacks.

Even though our government wasn’t prone to the recent ransomware attack, they apparently spend $60 billion on legacy computer systems and $20 billion on new systems. It’s even worse for U.S. businesses. Even though the WannaCry virus was one of the largest cyber attacks in history, it won’t be the last!

Technology saves us time, money, and frustrations if kept up to date!

~ Bob Larson is a former engineer, photo-journalist, technologist, and Marketing Director at 50 Plus Media Solutions.

 

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