Ransomware WannaCry has become a global menace with massive attack spreading to more than 200,000 PCs in 150 countries. This ransomware hijacks your PC, encrypts your data and then asks you to pay ransom for getting your data back. The tool was infamously developed by US Security agency NSA to spy on targets and has fallen into hands of hijackers.
Now, if you are running a supported Windows PC, which means one running Windows 7, Windows 8.1 and Windows 10 or even unsupported Windows versions like Windows XP and Windows 8, you can protect your PC from this attack easily. Here are few things you need to know or do,
- Microsoft pushed a Security update in March that brings patches to protect your PC from this Ransomware. All you need to do is to check whether you have MS17-010 installed on your PC. Go to this page and get the KB number against your Windows version. Though Microsoft may have already pushed this update but if it is not installed you can either get via “Windows Update” or install it manually by going to the Microsoft Update Catalog.
- For downloading above Security updates for unsupported Windows XP and Windows 8 versions, click here.
- Open Windows Defender and check for updates, if you use it. Enable real-time protection. If you don’t use Windows Defender, update your Antivirus software. If you don’t use an Anti-Virus, at least activate Windows Defender.
- Don’t open suspicious attachments sent from unknown senders. This is the easiest way to spread such ransomware.
- Take a backup and keep it safe on a separate storage device
This can help you in protecting your PC from Ransomware WannaCry attack.
