The global ransomware attacks are getting frequent these days. After the WannaCry and Petya, the online world is once again in trouble due a new email-based Locky ransomware. The cyber criminals are sending out spam emails and targeting computers.
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Highlights
- Government of India released an alert about Locky Ransomware
- Advises to keep back up of important files and folders
- Avoid clicking suspicious emails from unknown senders
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The Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) which comes under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Government of India, has issued an alert addressing the Locky ransomware. The CERT-In reported that a new wave of spam emails is targeting computers and laptops in India to spread variants of the Locky ransomware. The report further mentioned that over 23 million messages have been transmitted in this campaign.
CERT has advised the users to avoid clicking any emails with subject lines like ‘photo’, please print’, ‘images’, ‘documents’, ‘scans’, and ‘pictures’. It’s worth mentioning that the cyber attackers might, and most likely to, change their strategies and send another kind of messages in their imminent emails.
In most cases, avoid clicking on any suspicious emails, especially the one containing ‘zip’ attachments. The infected emails usually come with a Visual Basic Scripts (VBS) rooted in the secondary zip file. The VBS file acts as a downloader which downloads the variants of Locky ransomware from a malicious website. The infected users are then instructed to for a payment of half Bitcoin which is the same as Rs 1.5 lakhs to unlock the infected computers.
Previously, WannaCry and Petya cyber attack ransomware affected the internet world and the Locky ransomware is a new cyber attack in this space. Last year, the Locky ransomware infected several systems, however, WannaCry and Petya became more prevalent lately. On the other hand, the smartphones are also prone to cyber attacks
On the other hand, the smartphones are also prone to cyber attacks. Recently, a malware called Judy infected over 36.5 million Android devices. Google has lately released the Google 8.0 Oreo update which is claimed to be a secure and stable version for Android mobiles.
How to Save your PC from Locky Ransomware?
Presently, there is no confirmed method to decrypt the infected computers without paying the ransoms. However, you can protect your computer against this ransomware by following these measures:
- Back up your important files and folders frequently.
- Install an antivirus program.
- Set up personal firewalls on workstations.
- Don’t open any suspicious email or website if the sender is unknown.
- Keep a regular backup of the critical data present on your computer.
- Restrict the user’s permissions for installation and execution of unwanted software application.
- Don’t pay ransom as there is no guarantee whether your files will be decrypted after the payments.
