All-New Ransomware Coverage Opens Up the Path to Recovery

Our all-new ransomware coverage is now available, ready to help just in case—all backed by expert advice to help you find the quickest and best possible path to recovery. 

Ransomware coverage from McAfee can reimburse you up to $25,000 for losses resulting from a ransomware threat, including financial losses and ransom fees. You’ll find this ransomware coverage included with our McAfee+ Ultimate plan. 

As well as eligibility for ransomware reimbursement, our team of experts can help you: 

• Determine the severity of a ransomware attack. 
• Learn what immediate action steps you can take. 
• Determine if a ransom should be paid or if alternative options exist. 
• Facilitate the ransom payment when, and if, necessary. 

However, it’s important to realize that ransomware is unlike any other attack. When ransomware locks someone out of their device or encrypts their data and files so they can’t use them, a demand is usually made for money. Sometimes, paying the ransom results in the device being made accessible again or the files being decrypted. Yet like any ransom case, this result is not always guaranteed. There are plenty of cases where people pay the ransom but never get their data or access to their devices back. 

Again, our coverage includes guidance from our expert advisers to help walk you through your options should the worst happen to you. You won’t be in it alone—particularly as you look to recover from what can be a complicated attack. 

What is ransomware? 

As the name implies, ransomware is a type of malware that holds your device or information for ransom. It may lock your computer or smartphone entirely or it may you out of your files by encrypting them so that you can’t access them. Whether it’s a hacker or a cybercrime organization behind the attack, the bad actor involved holds the key to unlock those files—and promises to do so. For a price. And as mentioned above, sometimes that doesn’t happen, even if you pay. 

Ransomware can infect your devices several different ways: 

• Malware sites, where bad actors direct you to the site with the aim of having you download the malware package or by uploading it to you through your browser without your knowledge. 
• Phishing attacks, whether via an email, direct message, text, or any other form of electronic message, bad actors will embed either links or attachments that can lead to ransomware ending up on your device. 
• Network or device compromise, which may include a bad actor taking advantage of a security loophole or simply accessing the network or device with a stolen or hacked password. 

A brief history of ransomware 

Ransomware has seen quite the evolution over the years. Its origins date back to the late 1980s, where malware-loaded floppy disks were sent to users who installed them under false pretenses. There the malware would lie in wait until the user rebooted their computer for the 90th time and presented with a digital ransom note. 

From there, ransomware attacks on individuals became more sophisticated, and more lucrative, with the advent of the internet and the millions of everyday users who flocked to it. Using phishing emails, malware downloads from phony sites, and compromised software and networks, hackers rapidly expanded their ransomware reach.  

However, yet more lucrative for hackers and organized cybercriminals were public and private organizations. Shifting their attacks to so-called “big game” targets, hackers and organized cybercriminals have used ransomware to extort money from hospitals, city governments, financial institutions, and key energy infrastructure companies, to name just a few. Seeing further opportunity, ransomware attackers then began targeting smaller and mid-sized businesses as well. While the ransom demands account for lower amounts, these organizations often lack dedicated cybersecurity teams and the protections that come along with them, making these organizations easier to victimize. 

Meanwhile, the body of malicious code and attack packages used to launch ransomware attacks has only grown. As a result, small-time hackers and hacking groups can find the tools they need to conduct an attack for sale or for lease as a service (Ransomware as a Service, or RaaS). In effect, these bad actors can simply access a dark web marketplace and figuratively pull a ready-to-deploy attack off the shelf. 

As a result, ransomware remains a concern for individuals, even as businesses and governmental bodies of all sizes deal with its threat. 

Protecting yourself from ransomware attacks 

What makes ransomware so damaging is just how much effort it can take to undo. Setting aside the sophisticated attacks on businesses and governments for a moment, even those “off-the-shelf” attacks that some hackers will launch against individuals go beyond the average user’s ability to undo. For example, there are some known attacks with known methods of decrypting the data, however, that requires knowing specifically which attack was used. Attempting to undo the encryption with the wrong solution can potentially encrypt that data even more. 

So without question, the best defense against ransomware is prevention. Comprehensive online protection software gives you the tools you need to help avoid becoming a ransomware victim. A few include: 

• Safe surfing features that steer you clear of malicious downloads, attachments, and websites. 
• Strong antivirus that detects and neutralizes the latest malware threats with the latest virus definitions. 
• Vulnerability scanners that help keep your device and its apps up to date with the latest security measures.   
• A firewall that helps prevent intruders from accessing the devices on your home network—and the files on them. 

Moreover, you can protect yourself further by backing up your files and data. A cloud storage solution,121cwdv 1765ujb n4yh that’s secured with a strong and unique password, offers one path. Likewise, you can back up your files on an external disk or drive, making sure to keep it disconnected from your network and stored in a safe place. 

Also as mentioned in the bullets above, keep your operating system and apps current with the latest updates. Beyond making improvements in your operating system and apps, updates often also address security issues that hackers often use to compromise devices and apps. 

Lastly, stay alert. Keep an eye out for sketchy links, attachments, websites, and messages. Bad actors will pull all kinds of phishing tricks to lure you their way, places where they try to compromise you, your devices, and data. 

Taken together, the combination of online protection software and a few preventative steps can greatly reduce the chance that you’ll fall victim to ransomware. From there, you also have the assurance of our ransomware coverage, ready to get on the path to recovery, just in case. 

The post All-New Ransomware Coverage Opens Up the Path to Recovery appeared first on McAfee Blog.

The Feeling of Safety with McAfee+

Safety has a feeling all its own, and that’s what’s at the heart of McAfee+. 

We created McAfee+ so people can not only be safe but feel safe online, particularly in a time when there’s so much concern about identity theft and invasion of our online privacy.   

And those concerns have merit. Last year, reported cases of identity theft and fraud in the U.S. shot up to 5.7 million, to the tune of $5.8 billion in losses, a 70% increase over the year prior. Meanwhile, online data brokers continue to buy and sell highly detailed personal profiles with the data cobbled together from websites, apps, smartphones, connected appliances, and more, all as part of a global data-gathering economy estimated at well over $200 billion a year. 

Yet despite growing awareness of the ways personal information is collected, bought, sold, and even stolen, it remains a somewhat invisible problem. You simply don’t see it as it happens, let alone know who’s collecting what information about you and toward what ends—whether legal, illegal, or somewhere in between. A recent study we conducted showed that 74% of consumers are concerned about keeping their personal information private online. Yet, most of us have found out the hard way (when we search for our name on the internet) that there is a lot of information about us that has been made public. It is our belief that every individual should have the right to be private, yet we know too many individuals don’t know where to begin. It is this very worry that made us focus our new product line on empowering our users to take charge of their privacy and identity online. 

McAfee+ gives you that control. 

Now available in the U.S., McAfee+ provides all-in-one online protection for your identity, privacy, and security. With McAfee+, you’ll feel safer online because you’ll have the tools, guidance and support to take the steps to be safer online. Here’s how: 

• You’ll see where your personal information appears in risky locations online, such as people search and data broker sites that sell this information to advertisers, in addition to hackers, spammers, and thieves. Then McAfee+ helps you remove it (or depending on the plan we do it for you). We call this Personal Data Cleanup. 

• It protects you by scanning the dark web for places where your personal information may appear. This way you can keep an eye on your email addresses, social security number, credit card numbers, and more on the dark web—and receive notifications an average of 10 months sooner than similar services if your info is found in a data breach. This gives you ample time to change your passwords before hackers try to access your account. Depending on your plan, McAfee+ offers you $1M identity theft coverage and credit monitoring services as well for additional peace of mind. 
• You’ll also see how safe you are with our industry-first Protection Score. It checks the health of your online protection and shows you ways you can improve your score so you’re safer still. 

• And as always, it all includes McAfee’s award-winning antivirus and device security solution.  

You can see the entire range of features that cover your identity, privacy, and security with a visit to our McAfee+ page.  

McAfee+ Ultimate offers our most thorough protection, with which you can lock your credit with a click or put a comprehensive security freeze in place, both to thwart potential identity theft. You can keep tabs on your credit with daily credit monitoring and get an alert when there’s credit activity to spot any irregularities quickly.  

You’ll also feel like someone has your back. Even with the most thorough measures in place, identity theft and ransomware attacks can still strike, which can throw your personal and financial life into a tailspin. What do you do? Where do you start? Here, we have you covered. We offer two kinds of coverage that can help you recover your time, money, and good name:  

• $1 million in identity theft coverage and with the assistance of professional identity restoration specialists who can take steps to repair your identity and credit. 
• $25,000 in ransomware coverage, which likewise comes with expert support that can help you determine the severity of a ransomware attack, learn what immediate steps you can take, and determine if a ransom should be paid or if alternative options exist. 

Starting today, customers in the U.S. can purchase McAfee+ online at McAfee.com in Premium, Advanced, and Ultimate plans, in addition to individual and family subscriptions. McAfee+ will also be available online in the U.K., Canada, and Australia in the coming weeks with additional regions coming in the months ahead (features may vary by region). 

We are very excited about bringing these new protections to you and we hope you will be too.  

The post The Feeling of Safety with McAfee+ appeared first on McAfee Blog.