Last week I got a call from a worried Chronicle columnist. Claudette Holliday, the author of our Lexington Yesterday column, got a threatening call. Scammers claimed if she didn’t pay a ransom she would be locked out of Microsoft Word.
The type of attack Claudette experienced is called ransomware. It’s called this because the hackers usually demand some kind of monetary ransom. They claim if you pay, they will release your computer. The bad news is that generally even if you pay the ransom, they still lock you out of your machine.
Ransomware spreads by phishing emails most often. Phishing emails are the ones that claim to be from one place or person but are actually from thieves. You can also pick up ransomware if you visit a website which was infected.
What should you do to prevent ransomware attacks?
⦁    Update your software and operating system. Updates are annoying and time-consuming, but if you skip them you are putting your computer at risk. Ransomware, other malware, and computer viruses target known security weaknesses. These weaknesses are often what updates are designed to fix.
⦁    Don’t click links in unsolicited emails or emails from strangers. For good measure, you also shouldn’t open or download any attachments from these sources.
⦁    Have good antivirus and malware prevention software on your computer and use it! Having the software sitting on there doesn’t do any good. Be sure to run scans manually or schedule the computer to scan itself. We like Avast and Malwarebytes here at the Chronicle. With that said, there are dozens of reputable protection programs out there.

Think your computer has fallen victim to ransomware? Next week I’ll share how to get rid of ransomware once it has infected your machine.