Could a cyber attack cost you all your layouts and job files? Yes it can, as a truss plant found out last month, a victim of ransomware. Overnight, a despicable cyber robber encrypted all the files on his server, and displayed a warning on his system indicating an exorbitant ransom, with a price that escalated every minute. Very quickly the price became unreasonable, and he lost everything on that server. Firing his so-called IT expert offered little consolation. Yet there are defensive measures we all can take.
As with most viruses, ransomware is usually received from opening a seemingly innocuous email message, and it can quickly proliferate to every computer on a network. Early versions (called “locker-based”) attempted to lock you out of your system, displaying a screen requesting payment, without actually harming files. Usually these could be circumvented by interrupting Windows startup and editing the system registry. However, today’s versions (called “crypto”) are much more insidious as the above plant found out.
Our ubiquitous Internet, sophisticated computer sleuths, and untraceable anonymous payment services accelerate the risk from a ransomware attack. Adding to the tragic loss of layout files could be a hack of production equipment. Truss plants could be totally shut down if computers that run saws and tables are rendered inoperable.
If you don’t have someone on staff who displays computer savvy, then you have to rely on an IT consultant. But how do you know that an outside vendor is providing adequate protections, especially when they are in such demand from large corporations and government. The latest attack by the “wanna cry” ransomware affected users running Windows XP who hadn’t installed the latest Microsoft update, including Britain’s National Health Service.
Several good preventive measures are in order:
- Make one person responsible to update your computer hardware and software, and send them to school to keep current on computer security.
- Keep your own (secondary) backups – buy several 64GB USB flash drives for $20 each and periodically copy your job files, program defaults, and other valuable data and keep these at home.
- Have one computer that is disconnected from your network with essential programs and files.