Ransomware 101

“SELF HELP TIP” WILL WORK IN MOST CASES
First off lets  define Ransomeware

ran·som·ware (ˈransəmˌwe(ə)r/) – noun
a type of malicious software designed to block access to a computer system until a sum of money is paid.

Although this is rather an annoyance and rather a major pain in the neck the first thing to do is  not panic.
In most cases the software  is not yet installed on the machine, but when we  see the POP UP, the first reaction is to panic panic. dont panic,
That is exactly what they want, if you  panic  you  will  more than  likely click  or contact them to RESOLVE THE ISSUE do not click  and do not call.
THEY THE  RANSOMEWARE CREATORS HOPE YOU PANIC ITS HOW THEY GET IN  

Heres what you should do and in most cases you can solve the issue yourself.

01. if you see the popup and its your first time seing it chances are its in the browser page you are visiting and odds are you are not infected
02. DO NOT CLICK ON ANYTHING IN A PANIC THIS IS WHAT THEY WANT YOU TO DO
03. CLOSE YOUR BROWSER….. FOR A PC USE “CTRL+ALT+DELETE” (all 3 at the same time) this will bring up task manager close any browser windows that appear in the list.
For a MAC GO UP TO YOUR APPLE LOGO AND HIT “FORCE QUIT” close the browser in the popup window.
For a handheld device (RARE) reboot the device.

In most cases it was JUST THE SITE YOU WERE ON as long as you didn’t click anything in a panic. and you can restart your machine and continue on with your task.


Should it reoccur you might be infected “DON’T PANIC” roll back your device using system restore(PC), or time machine (MAC),

“TIME  MACHINE  MUST  HAVE BEEN SET UP PREVIOUSLY IN ORDER FOR THIS TO WORK ON A MAC IT IS NOT ACTIVE BY DEFAULT”
“SYSTEM RESTORE HOWEVER IS ACTIVE BY DEFAULT IN SOME CASES THE INFECTION MAY DEACTIVATE SYSTEM RESTORE”
IF YOU DID NOT CLICK ON ANYTHING THEN MOST LIKELY THE SYSTEM RESTORE IS STILL ON 

and if its a third party browser, such as GOOGLE CHROME you can ussaly resolve it by re installing that application fresh. make sure before re installing you remove the folder for that app from your system files in order to assure that it is completely gone.
For a mobile device just reset your device. again this is rare for mobile.

AFTER YOU DO THIS SCAN YOUR COMPUTER FOR INFECTIONS TO MAKE SURE THE PROBLEM IS GONE.

If these steps  did not help contact us or seek help. depending on your location.