In this article from the New York Times guidance is provided on how to protect people's own personal data from Ransomware attacks such as the Wannacry virus that has been circulating lately. Wikipedia describes ransomware as a type of malicious software that blocks access to data or threatens to publish it until a ransom is paid. Simple ransomware may lock the system in a way which is not difficult for a knowledgeable person to reverse. More advanced malware uses a technique called cryptoviral extortion, in which it encrypts the victim's files, making them inaccessible, and demands a ransom payment to decrypt them.^[

I woke up to a flood of news about ransomware today. By virtue of being down here in Australia, a lot happens in business hours around the world while we're sleeping but conversely, that's given me some time to collate information whilst everyone else is taking a break. The WannaCry incident is both new and scary in some ways and more of the same old stuff in others. Here's what I know and what the masses out there need to understand about this and indeed about ransomware in general.