6 Top Sites and Apps to Beat Ransomware and Protect Yourself!

The cyber attack appears to have used a flaw in Microsoft’s software, discovered by the NSA and leaked by hackers, to spread rapidly across networks, taking control of a computer or mobile device, locking away files and preventing the user from accessing data on their own device. The only way for the victims to gain access to their data is to pay a ransom via bitcoins to whoever infected their device with that malware. Check also our latest Tricks portal Cracko from here.

Have you also faced a ransomware attack so far, where some of your files are no longer accessible? Here are some of the tools and websites you can use to prevent or solve these problems. Some of these sites even offer tools to decrypt what the malware has locked, in case the worst has happened.

1. No More Ransom (Web) – Learn About Ransomware:

The “No More Ransom” website is an initiative by the National High Tech Crime Unit of the Netherlands’ police, Europol’s European Cybercrime Centre and two cyber security companies – Kaspersky Lab and Intel Security. It has come up with the goal to help victims of ransomware, to retrieve their encrypted data without having to pay the criminals.

The site believes that it is much easier to avoid the threat than to fight against it once the system is affected. So, it aims to educate users about how ransomware works and what countermeasures can be taken to effectively prevent infection.

Don’t pay these scammers as it is not guaranteed that you can get your data back, the site advises, as it works hard to help you overcome your problem. They have created a repository of keys and applications that can decrypt data locked by different types of ransomware.

2. ID Ransomware (Web) – Identify What Ransomware Encrypted Your Files

All too often after a ransomware attack, the first question is, “what encrypted my files?”, followed by “can I decrypt my data?”. ID Ransomware helps you figure out which one you’re infected with. It helps you in identifying what ransomware may have encrypted your files. It will attempt to point you in the right direction, and let you know if there is a known way of decrypting your files.

By simply uploading a ransom note, and/or an encrypted file (preferably both for best results), the site will use several techniques to help identify what ransomware may have encrypted the files. This includes assessing the ransom note name, file name patterns of the encrypted file, and in some cases, even byte patterns in the encrypted file itself. Then it’ll figure out the type of ransomware. With that information, you can attempt to decrypt your locked files and get your data back, thus becoming free from that ransom.

‘Knowing is half the battle’ is the policy of this web service.