Posted on 03/11/2015 10:42:15 AM PDT by rickmichaels
Porn is not so much the case for getting these attacks. There are so many hackers out there that own mis-spelled domain names that look very similar to the home page. For example if you mispell freerepublic you could be sent to a page that drive by installs this junk. Even legitimate websites are pulling this trick now. How many times have you seen the “WARNING, your Adobe is out of date and needs to be updated.” I get that one if I visit Hotair and Townhall, both of which I have stopped visiting. A less experienced computer person will see these warning and click on “yes” or “install.”
There is no easy way to prevent this in the short term - In fact, folks with responsible backup habits are more susceptible to ransomware than are the schlepps who are lucky to backup quarterly, as one is very likely to commit a backup before you know the files are encrypted, thus overwriting the files in your backup store... The fact that they left their USB HDD plugged in is almost incidental to the fact. These bugs will also infect any writeable network share too, so network backup, even cloud backup, is just as likely to be overwritten with encrypted files, all the more so if backup routines are often executed.
A ‘pull’ oriented (rather than ‘push’) backup initiated by a server pulling files from client machines to read-only shares would eliminate the chance of infection over LAN, but doesn’t do anything for overwriting with encrypted files from the client... But that is half the battle...
Creating a dated backup from the store before initiating a new backup would certainly help, but now you have the problem of giant datastores essentially without incremental differentiation...
It’s a tough nut for automated backup.
I too use and external hard drive, but always keep in disconnected when I am not directly using it. I also back up my photos in cloud storage and on flash drives kept in my bank safety deposit box. I also have my old photo negatives in the safety deposit box.
My old-school leetspeek comes out of hiding! Oh Noes!
Clicking “Yes” to those update things, is pretty much an equivalent of saying “Sure, officer, you can come right on in and search my home, I have nothing to hide! Warrant? You don’t need no warrant! Come on in! Welcome!”
Mine is a slightly different task - I am a service tech, primarily for Residential and SOHO users. Since there isn't the 'benefit' of a locked-down client/server oriented LAN, exposure is quite a bit higher. In my line of work, infections are inevitable (think teenagers). So while security is primary, the secondary or fallback position is to make certain that backups are available. Since many of my users are never going to do anything even as complicated as writing a CD, and since data stores have become gigantic (far too big for regular manual backup, even if they were so-inclined), I have relied heavily upon multiple chains of automated backup to provide reliable backup sets in case of electronic disaster (which, in your average teenage infested household, or party-oriented young adult, is a matter of 'when' not 'if'...).
So to me, the problem here is not the infection, which can be considered as inevitable, but rather, how to preserve those backups which, because of their necessary automation, are highly susceptible not only to the bug encrypting the files in backup, but are equally susceptible to good files in backup being overwritten by encrypted files from the live data (if a backup routine initiates before I am notified, or before I can get there). It's a whompin' big problem.
I have three 2-TB external drives that I occasionally do my backups to... and keep them in a drawer when not in use. I also have three older 1-TB drives with older backups on them.
When I moved cross-country a year ago I mailed one drive, put one on the moving truck and carried the third one with me on the plane. Never can be too careful with my stuff (mostly photos).
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