Protection for the Holidays

Holiday Greetings from Your Computer Solutions!

‘Tis the season of love, joy and craziness. If your day is like mine this time of year, you’re working late, going to holiday parties and trying to get some holiday shopping squeezed in wherever you can. Going online to check out the latest specials and making purchases is a great way to save time and money.

The problem is our on-line world is full of traps that seem harmless and normal, but in reality, they are traps that will harm both your computer and your personal data. We are so use to seeing banner ads all over the place on line that advertise places like Costco, CVS, Wal-Mart, Target, Kmart etc.; but they maybe, in reality, a hidden trap that once you click, starts to download various spyware and adware programs onto your computer.

Then there are all those e-mails you get from the products you buy, the “shipping notices” you receive letting you know your packages are in route…or emails about a failed package delivery from USPS or UPS or FedEx that you were expecting. The e-mail asks you to click on a link or attachment to find out how to retrieve your package. These e-mails, unfortunately, may contain the same adware or spyware programs.

These programs take only seconds to install after you click, and by then it’s too late. Some of these programs track your every move and keystroke, sending this information back to the hackers to be later sold and used against you. More and more of these programs are devastating to your computer. One program in particular that is going around is called Crypto-Wall. This spyware has now been classified as Ransom-Ware. This ransom-ware program works by first deleting your local backups, and then encrypting all the files on your computer, and any external drive that is attached. It then informs you know how to unlock the encryption and retrieve your files by paying a ransom.

This is a very damaging program and it’s not just hitting the normal computer users. A police station in Tennessee just found out how bad this spyware is and had to pay the ransom ($500) to get their files unlocked. How do you protect yourself from this attack, and others like it…back up your data on-line. This ransom-ware cannot encrypt your files there!

Your Computer Solutions offers a great backup system for as little as $15 per year to back up a Gigabyte of data! Small price to pay to secure your files, other personal information and more importantly, those irreplaceable family photos!

Contact us today and let us help with your holiday stress. You will breathe easier and relax knowing your files and photos are backed up regularly and are safe from a cyber attack.

Remember, a computer or laptop is easy to replace. Your family memories are not!!!