May 15, 2017
This is a very nasty one - Right now, there is very little defense against this Ransomware/Worm - in spite of what you may be hearing on the News, this is NOT an attack by the Russians, North Korea, Syria or any other supposed terrorist group or nation – this looks to be most likely an engineered release by the NSA or other like operations to create a certain amount of panic and to finger some specific groups. Irregardless of who may have released this, what it is and what it can do is of great concern to all, most especially small businesses… There is NO protection against this right now and paying the ransom of $300 via Bitcoin will get you nothing either… 1st thing is an “Off Site” backup needs to be done as quickly as possible. This is where we take an external Hard Drive, and do a Post Production Disk Image (I have the required software for this) followed by a Windows Backup Process. The system is shut down, external backup drive is removed and put in a safe place such as a Fire Safe or a File Cabinet… Small businesses will need to do this Daily until there is a defense for this POS Ransomware… I wish I could say this is a do it your self kind of thing but in fact you all will need my help and it’s going to be all I can do to get to everyone in a timely manner… What you can do immediately is go out (Costco, Best Buy, Local Computer store etc.) and buy a 1-3TB (Terabyte) Backup drive – Small Businesses with one system and not much data may only need 1TB – Small Businesses with a number of systems and lots of Data are going to need a much bigger BU drive and those need to call me immediately so I can get that started… My businesses that allow me to do Remote Support & Updates as needed – I have already started this process and will call you when I need your help to complete… This is going to be very demanding and a little stressful for everyone, most especially me till there is a solid defense for this thing…
This is very complex overview of this Ransomware so don't bother to understand it - It does give a basic sense of this though and that is worthwhile knowing'