Backup, Backup, Backup ! Or what happens when you click on a Locky / Cryptolocker infected email attachment

I run an IT Services company providing IT Support in Preston, Lancashire. We recently had an incident where someone opened a fake invoice attachment in Word, then managed to enable macros and run some very suspicious code that triggered the Locky cryptovirus.

You might take the view that it'll never happen to you. But these emails are looking more authentic every week. Its only a matter of time until someone in your business triggers one. Read the story of How to fix a cryptovirus like Locky, Cryptolocker, Torrentlocker for more details of what happened and just how quickly it took hold.

The bottom line is you need layers of security
   - so scan the incoming email for junk and viruses
   - then scan on the computer or laptop for viruses with a different antivirus package
   - keep a separate Malware manual scanner handy for a second opinion
   - train your staff
   - make multiple backups

The key to multiple backups is a full easy to access onsite backup, as well as an online backup stored in a datacentre. That needs to be offsite to protect from fire, flood and theft - and in some cases cryptovirus too.Use a backup that offers a history or file versioning.

Be aware that a file sync service such as Dropbox or Onedrive isn't necessarily a useful backup - whatever damage or deletion or amendment or encryption happens to your file, will by synced immediately to the datacentre and then to your other devices. This will happen before you've had time to react.