Cybersecurity: How to protect your files from Ransomware attack

With the rapid advancements in technology come numerous benefits, but also significant challenges – ransomware is one of them. Ransomware is a type of cyber threat where criminals encrypt your files and demand a ransom for their release, posing a serious risk to both individuals and organizations.

Understanding what ransomware is, how it works, its impact, and how to protect your files is crucial, especially if you handle important personal or business data.

In this article, you’ll find everything you need to know about ransomware and how to safeguard yourself against it.

What is Ransomware?

Ransomware is a malware designed to deny a user or organization access to files on their computer. These files are encrypted by cyber attackers who demand a ransom payment for the decryption key as a means for the user or organization to regain access to their files. 

How does Ransomware work?

According to an article by the National Cyber Security Centre, the following are ways in which ransomware works.

1. Access

Cyber attackers gain access to your network, after which they establish control and plant malicious encryption software.  They may also take copies of your data and threaten to leak it.

2. Activation

The malware is activated, locking devices and causing the data across your network to be encrypted, meaning you can no longer access it.

READ ALSO: Everything You Need to Know about Cyber Extortion in 2025

Ransom demand

Usually you will then receive an on-screen notification from the cyber criminal, explaining the ransom and how to make the payment to unlock your computer or regain access to your data. 

Payment is usually demanded via an anonymous web page and usually in a cryptocurrency, such as Bitcoin.

However, it is important to note that the law does not encourage, endorse nor condone the payment of such ransom demands because of the following reasons:

1. There is no guarantee that you will get access to your data or computer
2. Your computer will still be infected
3. You will be paying criminal groups
4. You’re more likely to be targeted in future

What is the possible impact of Ransomware?

An attack on your files through ransomware can result in the following: 

1. Temporary or permanent loss of sensitive or proprietary information,
2. Disruption to regular operations,
3. Financial losses incurred to restore systems and files, and
4. Potential harm to an organization’s reputation.

Steps in protecting your files against Ransomware attack

1. Employ a data backup and recovery plan for all critical information

To protect your files against ransomware attack, ensure you employ a data backup and recovery plan for all your critical information. Perform and test regular backups to limit the impact of data or system loss and to expedite the recovery process. 

Note that network-connected backups can also be affected by ransomware; critical backups should be isolated from the network for optimum protection.

2. Keep your operating system and software up-to-date with the latest patches

Your operating system and software should always be up-to-date if you want to protect your files from ransomware attacks. Vulnerable applications and operating systems are the targets of most attacks. 

Ensuring these are patched with the latest updates greatly reduces the number of exploitable entry points available to an attacker.

3. Maintain up-to-date anti-virus software

Ensure your anti-virus software is up-to-date and scan all software downloaded from the internet prior to executing.

4. Restrict users’ ability

Users’ ability (permissions) should be restricted to install and run unwanted software applications, and apply the principle of “Least Privilege” to all systems and services. Restricting these privileges may prevent malware from running or limit its capability to spread through the network.

5. Avoid enabling macros from email attachments

If a user opens the attachment and enables macros, embedded code will execute the malware on the machine.

6. Do not follow unsolicited Web links in emails

Avoid following unsolicited web links in emails. 

7. Cyber awareness training and education

Ransomware is often spread using phishing emails. 

Training yourself on how to identify and avoid potential ransomware attacks is therefore crucial as many of the current cyber-attacks start with a targeted email that does not even contain malware, but only a socially-engineered message that encourages the user to click on a malicious link. 

8. Deploy Anti-Ransomware Solution

The need to encrypt all of a user’s files means that ransomware has a unique fingerprint when running on a system. 

Anti-ransomware solutions are built to identify those fingerprints. 

READ ALSO: Online Sextortion: How it works and what to do if you’re being sextorted

Steps in Responding to a Ransomware Attack 

If you are of the opinion that your device has been infected with ransomware, then you can do the following:

1. Disconnect From Networks

To respond to a ransomware attack, you can disconnect from networks by:

1. unplugging ethernet cables and disable wifi or any other network adapters. 
2. put your device in Airplane Mode
3. turn off Wi-Fi and Bluetooth

Doing the above can aid in preventing the spread of the ransomware to shared network resources such as file shares.

2. Disconnect External Devices

Immediately disconnect your external devices like: 

1. USB drives
2. Attached phones or cameras
3. External hard drives

Or any other devices that could also become compromised.

If you have experienced ransomware attack at any point, it is important you try and establish how the attackers gained access to your network in the first place so you can prevent future ransomware attacks. 

In all, it is important that you always have a recent offline backup of your most important files and data.