Ransomware is perhaps a term you have heard mentioned on the TV or radio, but do you really know what it is and what the real threat is to your home PC\/laptop or worse yet your business device? <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Basically ransomware can be thought of as malicious computer software, installed on your laptop or PC, without your knowledge which allows hackers to take complete control of your device. The software is often delivered to your PC via an innocent looking email, with an attachment, which when opened infects your computer with the ransomware app or software. Once activated and installed, the software begins to encrypt the files on your device rendering them inaccessible to you. More often than not a message will eventually be displayed advising you to pay an amount of money to an unidentifiable source. The message will claim that once the sum is paid, your PC or laptop will be unlocked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Although ransomware has become a mainstream term quite recently, such software has actually been used since the early 90’s by unscrupulous criminal attempting to extort money out of unsuspecting users.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In 2017 the UK’s very own institution, the NHS was attacked with a widespread ransomware attack, affecting thousands of PC’s across the estate (as well as many other business devices). It later transpired that this attack was so successful because a lot of NHS PC’s and other business PC’s were using an outdated version of Windows with out of date security software.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We would always advise keeping your business and home devices up to date with the latest security patches and security software. If you would like any advice regarding this, please do not hesitate to contact us.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Ransomware is perhaps a term you have heard mentioned on the TV or radio, but do you really know what it…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[30],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/patILO-1wR","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":6252,"url":"https:\/\/cartwright-it.co.uk\/?p=6252","url_meta":{"origin":5881,"position":0},"title":"IT Support in Care Homes","date":"April 19, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"We have been providing IT support to care homes now for several years and have a proven track record in delivering high quality, responsive IT support. Technology is constantly evolving and there are more opportunities than ever to increase efficiency within the care home business but most importantly deliver a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6262,"url":"https:\/\/cartwright-it.co.uk\/?p=6262","url_meta":{"origin":5881,"position":1},"title":"WiFi and Broadband Problems","date":"April 21, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"One of the most common complaints we hear from customers is the speed of their WiFi and broadband connections. This is equally true in both homes and workplaces. The main suppliers of home broadband in the UK are BT\u00a0(PlusNet,\u00a0EE), Sky Broadband, Virgin Media\u00a0and TalkTalk\u00a0but regardless it seems that people experience\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/cartwright-it.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/wifi.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5841,"url":"https:\/\/cartwright-it.co.uk\/?p=5841","url_meta":{"origin":5881,"position":2},"title":"Beware of latest Sextortion SPAM Emails","date":"October 17, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Almost half a million computers have been hijacked by hackers and used to send \"sextortion\" emails to unsuspecting email accounts of users across the world, including the UK. The email sent to users claims the sender has obtained compromising photos of the recipients which will be published online, unless the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Technology"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6247,"url":"https:\/\/cartwright-it.co.uk\/?p=6247","url_meta":{"origin":5881,"position":3},"title":"Microsoft 365 & Teams in Care Homes","date":"March 15, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"I've always been a fan of the Microsoft 365 (previously named Office 365) suite of products and have advised most of my clients to use them to increase productivity. This includes the usual suspects of Word and Excel but also lesser known products such as Teams and Sharepoint...both have become\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cartwright-it.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5881"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cartwright-it.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cartwright-it.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cartwright-it.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cartwright-it.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5881"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cartwright-it.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5881\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cartwright-it.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5881"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cartwright-it.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5881"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cartwright-it.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5881"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}