Ransomware is like the Black Plague

Ransomware is like the Black Plague. Once infected you have the equivalent of a big X on your door - here it’s a ransom note on your screen.   Nobody should be anywhere near you – we recommend isolated an infected machine from the network.   And you’re as good as dead. Well, at least your computer is. Fortunately computers, like Jon Snow (spoiler alert) in Game of Thrones) can be restored to life.  

Like the Black Plague, the best thing to do about ransomware is not to get it in the first place. Symantec has published our official advice for Endpoint Protect customers on what to do. Some of the advice is product specific, but there is a lot of good advice in this article, no matter what product you use.

We also have advice on what to do if you do get infected. Unfortunately 99.9% of all ransomware comes with unbreakable encryption, so if you have not backed up your files your choices are grim. We recommend not paying the ransom. But if you do, please make sure you clean your system. Even if you pay the ransom you’ll still have malware on your system. You’re wide open to attacks from additional malware, including another ransomware attack.

The article is published here: https://support.symantec.com/en_US/article.HOWTO124710.html