5 Ways to Protect Your Small Business from Ransomware

Ransomware is a type of malware that encrypts a victim’s files and demands a ransom payment in order to decrypt them. Ransomware attacks have been on the rise in recent years, and SMEs are particularly vulnerable.

There are a number of reasons why SMEs are more likely to be targeted by ransomware attacks. First, SMEs often have less robust cybersecurity measures in place than larger businesses. Second, SMEs may be more likely to fall for phishing scams, which are a common way that ransomware is spread. Third, SMEs may be more likely to have sensitive data that is valuable to cybercriminals, such as customer data or financial information.

The impact of a ransomware attack can be devastating for an SME. In addition to the cost of the ransom payment, businesses may also experience lost productivity, damage to their reputation, and even legal liability.

There are a number of steps that SMEs can take to protect themselves from ransomware attacks. These include:

Investing in robust cybersecurity measures, such as firewalls, antivirus software, and employee training.
Being aware of phishing scams and how to avoid them.
Backing up data regularly so that it can be restored in the event of an attack.
Having a disaster recovery plan in place.

By taking these steps, SMEs can help to protect themselves from the growing threat of ransomware.

Here are some additional tips for SMEs to protect themselves from ransomware:

Use strong passwords and change them regularly.
Keep your software up to date.
Use a firewall to protect your network from unauthorized access.
Be careful about what emails you open and attachments you click on.
Install antivirus software and keep it up to date.
Back up your data regularly.
Have a disaster recovery plan in place.

By following these tips, SMEs can help to reduce their risk of being the victim of a ransomware attack.

Here are some additional synonyms for ransomware:

Crypto-malware
Cryptolocker
Cryptowall
Locky
Petya
WannaCry

These are just a few of the many different types of ransomware that are out there. It is important to be aware of these threats and to take steps to protect your business. Remember, prevention is always better than cure, and taking proactive measures to protect your business from ransomware attacks can save you time, money, and reputation damage in the long run.

WAKE UP PARENTS

Saw this nice post “Wake up Parents” and couldn’t restrict myself from sharing it.

Years back, poor illiterate parents produced
♦ Doctors,
♦ Engineers,
♦ Scientists,
♦ Accountants,
♦ Lawyers,
♦ Architects,
♦ Professors.., whom I will refer to as Group ‘A‘.

These Group ‘A‘ Children struggled on their own after Primary 6 or Grade 12, to become notable personalities. Most of them
♦ trekked to school barefooted
♦ went to farms
♦ fetched water and firewood
♦ cared for domesticated animals
♦ did some work including trading after school to survive.

Now Group ‘A’ ,who have now become Parents themselves are producing Group ‘B‘ Children

These Group B children are
⇒ pampered
⇒ helped in their homework or home assignments from nursery school through secondary schools to higher institutions.
⇒ chauffeur driven to very expensive schools or are sent abroad to study.
⇒ they can watch movies from morning till dawn after school.
⇒ they are treated like baby kings and queens.
⇒ they don’t do any household chores.
⇒ Food is put on the table for them,
⇒ their plates are removed and washed by parents or house maids.
⇒ They are given expensive cars and clothes,
⇒ not forgetting big pocket money to be wasted !!!.
⇒ Their parents help them in doing their assignments.
In spite of all these, only few can speak or write correctly.

Group ‘A‘ Parents cared for their own parents and children, Group ‘B‘,their Children are still struggling to find their feet at age 30+.‼
They find it difficult to do things on their own because they are used to being helped to think and doing things by Group ‘A‘. So they can’t help themselves, their parents or the society.

⊗ THEY ABANDON THEIR PARENTS IN THEIR BID TO ACQUIRE THE WORLD

Where do you belong❓
• Reduce the pampering and the unnecessary help you offer your children.
• Let your children grow in wisdom, intelligence and strength.
• Let them face the truth and the realities of life.

Teach them to grow to become independent adults.
Teach them to ♥ fear God, ♥ respect others and ♥ develop confidence in themselves.

Parents, discipline your children to become disciplined adults, useful and not useless.

What’s the Difference Between “Image” and “Clone”? –

The difference between image and clone is both simple and confusing, because the terms are used interchangeably to mean different things.

Image and clone are two very confusing backup terms.
One reason is a deep, dark, dirty little secret of the industry: we don’t all agree on what these two terms mean. Quite literally, one person’s clone is another person’s image, and vice versa.
It gets confusing, and if you’re hearing different things from different people, that’s why.
I’ll provide what I believe are the most accurate and common definitions. Hopefully, that means you’re more likely to hear people agree than disagree with what I’m saying.

Source: What’s the Difference Between “Image” and “Clone”? – Ask Leo!

How much RAM do you need, should you upgrade it, and will it speed up your PC? | ExtremeTech

How much RAM do you need?

How much RAM you need in a system depends on what you intend to do with it, how long you intend to keep it, and whether or not you can upgrade your memory post-purchase. This last point is important, as many high-end laptops have eliminated user-upgradeable RAM in order to reduce system thickness by roughly six nanometers.

Adding additional RAM to any laptop generally increases power consumption by a measurable (if small) amount, but this shouldn’t be an issue for most users. It’s also better to have a bit too much RAM than too little, as whatever you gain in power savings you’ll promptly lose to increased disk paging.

Apple’s MacBook Air offers 4GB of RAM, but most of the systems from Dell, HP, and other OEMs start at 8GB, and I think that’s the better sweet spot. That’s not to say you can’t get by on 4GB — you absolutely can — but 8GB gives you a bit more breathing room.

Check out the full article ↓↓

via How much RAM do you need, should you upgrade it, and will it speed up your PC? | ExtremeTech.

Another cloud storage provider bites the dust.

Copy.com, the cloud storage service that offered near-unlimited space and huge bonuses for referrals, announced today they’re shutting down on May 1st, 2016—leaving more than a few people with dozens or hundreds of gigs of data to migrate.

Copy, and its business-focused cloud storage service, CudaDrive, are subsidiaries of Barracuda Networks, which announced the shutdown today first in the form of pop-up notifications to its users, and then eventually in a statement on their home page (linked below). From it, they note:

We know this comes as disappointing news to our users, but rest assured that we will do everything we can to take care of each of you in the manner for which Barracuda is known. We have partnered with Mover.io to make migrating your data to another service as easy as possible and have created a step by step guide that walks you through the process of moving your data to a local hard drive or another cloud storage solution.

If you are on a paid subscription for either Copy or CudaDrive, please keep an eye out in the coming days for an email with more detailed information on your options. For additional information, please visit our FAQ page.

Users with paid plans will likely be offered a refund or credit for a different storage service, but everyone will have to get their data out before the service is discontinued on May 1st. For more, hit the link below to see the full announcement.

Copy and CudaDrive services will be discontinued | Copy.com