Australia may have missed the worst of the worldwide cyber attack, but small businesses are still at risk of being infected by the WCry ransomware.
Cyber Security Alastair MacGibbon said the first thing Australians should do when they get in to work on Monday is update their Microsoft software. They should do this before they open their emails or other programs.
The virus may be spreading via email attachments or trusted websites and if you don’t open or click on to the infected sites then you won’t be impacted. The virus also has a wormlike features that looks for other vulnerable systems once it’s embedded in your computer, which means it can spread to other computers in a network.
So far the massive cyber attack has hit 200,000 people in at least 150 countries including an Australian business.The ransomware locks down computers and has been demanding payments of $US300 ($AU406) to $US600 ($AU812) to restore access.
HOW TO CHECK IF YOU NEED TO UPDATE WINDOWS
The recently released Window 10 periodically checks for updates and automatically downloads and installs them unless told otherwise.
But if you’re not sure if your computer’s software is up to date, you can very easily check with the steps below.
1) Select the Window icon at the bottom left of the screen known as the Start button.
2) In the search box, type “Update” and then in the list of results, click “Windows Update”.
3) Click “Check for updates” and your computer will run a test to find any updates.
4) If it says your device is up to date, you have the latest software available and you should be able to breath a little easier.
