How to Prevent Ransomware Attacks | What Is Ransomware?
Learn what ransomware is, how it locks your data, and the layered defenses that make attacks less likely and less damaging.
What Is Ransomware?
Ransomware is a type of malware that encrypts your files or locks your systems and demands payment—often in cryptocurrency—in exchange for a decryption key. Modern ransomware groups frequently combine encryption with data theft, threatening to leak sensitive information if victims refuse to pay.
Ransomware spreads through phishing emails, malicious attachments, software vulnerabilities, and compromised remote access tools. Once inside a network, it often attempts to move laterally, gain higher privileges, and encrypt as many systems and backups as possible before revealing itself.
Reducing Your Risk of Ransomware Infection
Start with basic hygiene: keep operating systems, browsers, VPN clients, and remote access tools patched, and remove software you no longer need. Limit administrative privileges so that everyday accounts cannot install software or change system-wide settings. Disable or tightly control remote desktop access from the internet.
User awareness is equally important. Train people to recognize phishing emails, suspicious attachments, and fake software updates. Implement email filtering to block known malicious content, and use endpoint protection tools that can detect and block common ransomware behaviors such as mass file encryption.
Preparing for the Worst with Backups and Response Plans
Even with strong defenses, no organization can completely eliminate ransomware risk. Maintain regular, versioned backups of critical systems and store at least one copy offline or in an immutable format that ransomware cannot easily alter. Document and test your incident response plan so you know who will make decisions, how systems will be isolated, and how communication will work under pressure.
Security guidance from law enforcement and industry groups generally discourages paying ransoms, as it does not guarantee decryption and encourages future attacks. Instead, focus on restoring from clean backups, investigating how the attackers gained access, and closing the gaps they used.