You may have heard about the Petya Ransomware attack that is currently affecting computer users worldwide, hitting at least 65 counties, according to NPR. You can read more about the Petya outbreak at HealthITSecurity, the patched security flaw that is being exploited, the government’s CERT alert and the most tragic news: a Cadbury chocolate factory was shut down because of it.

As a Weston CompleteCare client, you have multiple layers of protection in-place to help prevent these types of things from bringing down your environment. These may include:

• WestonBlock email protection helps prevent viruses, malware, and phishing attempts from reaching your inbox. 
• Managed Antivirus that is constantly being updated to protect opening these types of files and blocking them if they try to attack.
• OpenDNS content filtering protects you from accidentally loading an infected web site and prevents these types of files from “phoning home” to activate.
• WestonShield firewalls help protect against malicious inbound and outbound traffic (and has had protection for variants of Petya starting over a year ago).
• Managed patching services that make sure security patches to help protect you from these types of infections are installed properly and quickly.
• A solid backup and business continuity device and plan in-place that protects your local and offsite backed up data and that alerts when backups show sign of malware. 

All that being said, this is yet another reminder to be extremely vigilant about what links you click on and what emails you open. Even if you get an email and attachment from someone that you know, if you were not expecting it, contact that person and make sure it was sent by them. Also avoid browsing to sites you don’t recognize or follow links that are unfamiliar.

If you have any questions or are interested in hearing about how CompleteCare can help protect your business, don’t hesitate to contact us.