Winchester Police Warn of Ransomware

From the Winchester Police Department

WINCHESTER, MA—Ransomware is a form of computer malware that targets both human and technical weaknesses in organizations and individual networks in an effort to deny the availability of data to the user.  

Ransomware is often delivered to a victim’s computer through a phishing email.  The malicious email then takes control of the user’s computer and essentially locks it down, preventing the user from accessing critical and persoanl data.  When the lock down occurs, the person behind the attack demands payment before sending  the user the unlock code.   If the ransom is not paid, the data will be unrecoverable.  

Ransonware has been a problem for corporations for years but has recently become more common to home users.  For more information on Ransomware and how to protect yourself, the FBI Cyber Division has released a flyer, which can be downloaded here.  FBI Ransomware Flyer.pdf