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Acronis True Image 2016 vs Ransomware

Thread needs solution

Hello.

I want to buy this software, but I would like to know if is possible to customize the file extension of the backups to avoid encryption by a Ransomware infection type.

Thank you.

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Hello, the simple answer to your question is no, the file extension for Acronis backup image files is .TIB and should not be changed.

The best protection against Ransomware or any other malware, virus, trojan type attack is to keep offline backup images along with taking sensible precautions with how you use your computer system.

Do not use an Administrator account in Windows by default - reserve this for task that need that level of authority and permissions.  A standard Windows user account is far less likely to have the permissions needed for ransomware or other malware to spread across your system.

Keep your security software fully up to date with the latest antivirus definitions etc.

Keep your Windows OS and other programs up to date to avoid vulnerabilities that hackers try to exploit.

Do not open links or attachments in emails without being 100% certain that you know what they are and who they have come from, even if the sender 'appears to be' someone you know well.

Use a Sandbox application such as Sandboxie or the tools provided with some security programs to restrict visits to any suspicious websites to having no ability to change key system files or data.

@ndres,

In addition to Steve's excellent advice, I would add:

Don't map network drives to Windows drive letters.  The current version of Crypowall only attacks network drives that have been mapped to a drive letter.

Don't disable UAC. 

Regards,

FtrPilot

Hello,

can I simply downgrade an account from admin to ordinary user? Will it affect normal usability? Have upgraded another so it's there for occasional admin. 

Thanks,

Dazzer

 

Dazzer, you can certainly change your Windows account type from being an admin to a normal user but I would recommend trying out all the main programs / functions that you would normally use in this account to test what the impact of such a change would be.  Hopefully, it may just show that you get prompted for an admin credentials when you use a program that needs this level of privilege, otherwise, you will be safer from any potential malware attack for that user account.

The key point is to have a working admin account that you can use as / when needed, which you say you have already got in place.

Also be advised that if not logged in as admin, many Acronis functions like mounting a tib don't work. You can right click acronis and run as admin to launch it and make changes though. But if you want to mount in Windows file explorer you need to run a separate instance of file explorer launched as admin. I'm on a phone so don't have the link off hand but there's a registry mod that needs to be made to allow the Windows Sears's ion to launch a second explorer session with a different account.

See post: 127825: Cannot mount password-protected backup as non-admin user for the mount issue referenced by Rob above and the work-around.

In reply to by truwrikodrorow…

At the moment I am also hit by the ransomware paranoia and am trying to reinvent my backup procedures. Up to now backups go to NAS drives mounted with Windows drive letters permanently active, NAS system(s) not shut down after backup since there are other data on it. These backups would be hit by ransomware encrypting all available Windows drive letters.

The best plan I can come up with up to now is a dedicated NAS only for backups with only an FTP-server requiring password access activated, only used for backups. All other servers like samba etc not activated on the NAS.

Is that a good idea? Improvement suggestions?

Franz, I would strongly recommend removing any drive letters for your NAS that point to or give access to your backup destination folders.  These should be protected by a non-Windows user / password credentials known only on the NAS and used only by Acronis for your backups without assigning any Windows drive letter.

See also topic: How to automatically connect and disconnect an external hard drive before and after a backup from another user that I worked with recently with similar concerns.