If you had not heard of ‘ransomware’ malware before the 2016 ‘Locky’ infection then consider yourself lucky. Ransomware malware is a type a malware hackers use to gain access to your computer through malicious or infected websites or popups, and then encrypt a portion of your hard drive and all of your important files. As the name suggests, hackers pretty much kidnap your data and hold it for ransom. The technology used in ransomware attacks is so sophisticated even US governmental agencies recently started advising unfortunate victims to simply pay the ransom.
The first sign of trouble is a notice on your screen demanding cash to unlock your data. Yes, the attackers demand ransom to unlock your files. You may also notice that all or some of your files are white and cannot be opened no matter what you do. If you ever needed that extra nudge to convince you of the importance of having secure data backups, this is it.
How You Can Respond
Fortunately, if you use TeamDrive to securely sync your files, you can restore your files to a point before the malware took effect.
If files were renamed, simply rename the file back to its original name and restore the file to the latest version before the malware took effect.
If files have been trashed, we recommend moving the encrypted files to the trash and restoring the original files from the trash. It may be a good idea to keep the encrypted files because there is a possibility to decrypt them.
In situations where one user within a group has been affected, please be sure to only restore the files trashed by this user around the time of the malware took effect.
The procedure must be performed on a file-by-file basis. If you would like to reverse the effects of ransomware on a large scale, please simply contact us at support@teamdrive.com for further assistance.