Bitdefender launched a free tool to help against ransomware
As I've already told you, attacks involving ransomware are growing in popularity and it seems that I'm not the only one who has noticed this. After Malwarebytes has recently released its own anti-ransomware application, Bitdefender followed suit and has just launched a free ransomware vaccine that will keep your computer safe from this kind of threats. The new tool is completely free and can be installed by everyone who wants to give it a go.
Bitdefender Anti-Ransomware
Let's start with the beginning and tell those who aren't tech-savvy that ransomware is a type of computer virus which encrypts all the files on your PC, practically locking you out of your own documents. It requires the victim to pay the hacker a certain amount of money for the key (password) that unlocks the files, hence the "ransom" is a part of the name. If you want more details about this type malware, I recommend reading an article that I wrote a few months ago: "What is ransomware and how to protect yourself against it".
This new tool is called Bitdefender Anti-Ransomware, and as I already said, it can be used for free and it protects its users against common ransomware attacks such as Locky, TeslaCrypt, CTB-Locker, CryptoWall, etc. The way it works is actually pretty ingenious: modern ransomware check if your PC is infected before encrypting your files and the tool takes advantage of this by "faking it". As long as the ransomware-vaccine is running, it will seem like your PC has already been attacked, thus keeping you safe from any new ransomware that want to infect your computer. Furthermore, on a personal note I also really liked that the tool requires very few resources and doesn't bug you with ads or other stuff.
