Protecting your devices from being compromised and held for ransom

Whether your email has been compromised by a hacker or you are a PayPal user and open the new scam email Fargo Police is warning about, experts say not to panic.

"They’re just using any email address with a name that is supposed to look like where it is coming from, to kind of trick you into providing information to them," said Danny Ware of Ware Repair.

Tech expert Danny Ware tells us your best bet is to report phishing emails as scams to prevent you and others from falling victim.

"People get your email address from these websites you sign up for and sometimes those email addresses get leaked, and somehow a list of people gets that phishing email," said Ware.

Many times with the latest scams and hacks on your devices, you could find yourself being held for ransom. Crooks will claim they will lock your device or even add a virus, unless you cough up some cash or pay them in bitcoin.

"If it looks suspicious and you’re worried about the email just report it as spam, and try to ignore it for the time being," said Ware.

Experts urge that you never pay the hackers or scammers, because there is no guarantee that they will keep to their promise. You could also find yourself being held for ransom again if you pay up, because they may feel that they can extort you.

So how can you protect yourself against these scams, viruses, and ransom attacks?

"Just set up two way authentication and keep your account secure," said Ware.

Don't click on any attachments as well, and keep all of your web settings up to date for added security.

Other advice are:

Use reputable antivirus software and a firewall.

Employ content scanning and filtering on your mail servers. Inbound e-mails should be scanned for known threats and should block any attachment types that could pose a threat.

These simple basic steps are what experts say can limit the chances of you being held for ransom.

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