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Let’s get personal today – I want to warn you for something that’s been going around the web. I wrote this article a few weeks back, but I guess now is the time to share. I have one (sometimes two) standard days in the week that I backup my whole life. This is probably the #1 most important task I have because without my digital files I would be nowhere.
No job, no photos, no friends (lol, without the social accounts, email accounts or my phone addresses, I could not contact most of them) and basically, no life. If you have ever experienced a hack before, you know the panicky feeling of losing access to one account. Imagine losing access to your complete digital life?!
Last week we talked about your emergency fund and the importance of working on it now before it’s too late. In this blog post I want to stress something urgent: I bet your business emergency fund isn’t $150.000. Why you need it? Ransomware.
Would you pay criminals $150,000 to get your computer files back? I would not, because I don’t have that kind of money laying around. But this is what CEOs of big companies pay more and more often these days when they receive that scary message that’s something like this: “we have taken over your computer, you cannot access any files (we have encrypted them), unless you pay us $150,000.”
The scary thing about this is, you’re dealing with criminals, and paying does not guarantee you get access to your files. And these days, our WHOLE life = on our computers.
Imagine losing:
Ieeeek!!
I know this probably doesn’t interest you, but let’s talk privacy & online protection. A few years back ransomware was just a ‘private’ attack, but nowadays more and more CEOs and business owners are ‘attacked’. If you’re new to me, you don’t know it yet, but I’m a big internet freedom fighter, and I want privacy and secure files. I have to, traveling as much as I do, browsing from different open wifi’s all the time. As a small business owner, there’s not an immediate threat, but be aware of the possibility. Don’t click links/open emails from suspicious looking people and knowing that ransomware exists and locks your files exists, is already a big win. So, you’re welcome.
I always travel with this Seagate 2TB external hard drive, it’s cheap and fast and it’s USB powered. Shop at Target for $89.99, which is fairly cheap for 2 TB!
Unfortunately, protection for cyber criminality changes quickly, and you have to keep a close eye to tech news, one day a company is safe, the next it’s filled with Malware or bought by Facebook. (I’m referring here to ZenMate and Whatsapp).
I know the thought of ransomware can be very scary, so better be prepared right! That’s why I’m sending writing this. Have your backups in order, have an emergency fund ready. Joining my new course is a step forward to your own emergency fund.
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