Question & answer

What is ransomware and how do you protect against it?

The short answer

Ransomware encrypts your files and demands payment for the key. You protect yourself in layers. Use an antivirus with ransomware protection, install updates promptly and be careful with email attachments. Above all, keep a backup that ransomware cannot reach. Cloud backup with version history is a good example.

In detail

Ransomware is the most financially damaging kind of malware. One wrong attachment or a compromised remote connection is enough. Every document, photo and database on your machine and connected drives then gets encrypted. The criminals demand payment, often with a deadline. Paying does not guarantee that you get your files back.

Modern security suites bring dedicated layers for this. Behavioral detection spots mass file encryption and stops it. Protected folders let only approved apps make changes. Bitdefender and Microsoft Defender both offer this. In Defender the feature is called controlled folder access. Norton bundles 50 GB of cloud backup with versioning. That is exactly the right kind of protection here.

The real insurance is your backup. Keep at least one copy of your important files that malware on your PC cannot touch. Cloud backup with version history lets you restore files from before the attack. An external drive that is not always connected works too. With a clean backup, ransomware goes from a disaster to an annoying afternoon of reinstalling.

A backup that ransomware cannot reach is the part that actually saves your files, and that is a different product category from antivirus. Compare cloud backup services on BackupShortlist, our sister site.