Acronis True Image
formerly Acronis Cyber Protect Home Office

Ransomware is the new kidnapping

Ransomware is the latest kind of malware: When a computer is infected via a hacked website or infected attachment, some or all of its data is encrypted and made unavailable — until the victim pays a ransom to the anonymous criminal. In other words, victims’ personal data can be held hostage to a new category of cybercrime.

A recent Tech Crunch article reflects the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation's (FBI) findings that in 2015, the bureau received 2,500+ Ransomware complaints, representing $24 million in losses. These incidents are becoming more prevalent, more public, and hitting both individuals and organizations.

FBI recommends backup as protection against ransomware

The good new is that tools and methodologies are being developed to avoid this particularly insidious form of malware. And there are precautions one can take today. Special Agent Chris Stangl of the FBI’s cybercrime division told the Washington Post that the FBI advises that people back up their data, because once a computer is infected with ransomware, recovery options are limited.

Backup solutions like Acronis True Image for personal use and Acronis backup solutions for business use are an important part of data protection against ransomware, as well as other threats to your data. By having an effective backup plan, you can survive a ransomware attack and avoid paying any money to the cyber thief. You can simply recover your data to the point just prior to the attack. And because downtime can be costly, recovering uninfected systems as quickly as possible is essential.

While no protection approach is perfect, using proper backup schemes can go a long way to protecting your data from many kinds of data loss, including from ransomware. There is a simple and effective solution: Acronis True Image - try it now!

UPDATE: Active protection against ransomware

On January 17, 2017, Acronis announced the release of Acronis Active Protection™ technology, designed to identify any unusual activity on computers and prevent malicious software from damaging user data, backups, and backup software. Cutting-edge behavioral heuristics technology detects and prevents cyber attacks, including zero-day ransomware.

Currently available as part of the award-winning Acronis True Image 2017 New Generation personal backup software, Acronis Active Protection is gradually being deployed across the full range of Acronis data protection products.

Where can I learn more about ransomware?

Acronis
Author
Gaidar Magdanurov
President
As a President at Acronis, Gaidar is responsible for partner enablement, education, and Acronis marketing organizations. He joined Acronis in 2013 as a Business Manager to CEO, becoming Vice President of online business and General Manager for consumer business in 2016, Chief Marketing Officer in 2017, Chief Success Officer in 2020, and President in 2023. Previously an investment director at venture capital fund Runa Capital, Gaidar was responsible for seed-stage investments, advising and educating entrepreneurs, supporting the business development of portfolio companies, and maintaining relationships with startup incubators and accelerators. Before Runa Capital, Gaidar served in various roles at Microsoft, from a technology evangelist to a Microsoft Seed Fund managing director. Before Microsoft, he worked as a software engineer and IT administrator for various companies. Gaidar holds a master’s degree in chemistry.

About Acronis

A Swiss company founded in Singapore in 2003, Acronis has 15 offices worldwide and employees in 50+ countries. Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud is available in 26 languages in 150 countries and is used by over 20,000 service providers to protect over 750,000 businesses.