![\"NewXMalwareXIsXAttackingXSmartXTV\"](\"https:\/\/sitesdev.net\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/NewXMalwareXIsXAttackingXSmartXTV.jpg\")
Ransomware is becoming an epidemic. It\u2019s one of the fastest growing kinds of attacks we\u2019re seeing in 2016, and the hacking community has shown a tremendous appetite for expanding the scope and scale of their operations.<\/p>\nRansomware is becoming an epidemic. It\u2019s one of the fastest growing kinds of attacks we\u2019re seeing in 2016, and the hacking community has shown a tremendous appetite for expanding the scope and scale of their operations.<\/p>\n
PCs and laptops were, of course, obvious targets for this kind of attack, but we\u2019re now seeing strains of ransomware that can attack smartphones, and lock you out of them, just like the software locks you out of your PC. There\u2019s even at least one strain of ransomware that targets smart TVs.<\/p>\n
Of course, for these types of software to work, the user has to be tricked into running the poisoned app and giving it administrator permissions, but there are tried and true methodologies for doing so. Granted, this extra step means that fewer of these types of devices will be impacted, but the hackers wouldn\u2019t be doing it if there wasn\u2019t money in it.<\/p>\n
How much would you be willing to pay to get all the pictures and contact information back from your phone if you suddenly lost it today? How much would you be willing to pay if your TV suddenly became a large, very expensive paperweight that wouldn\u2019t do anything?<\/p>\n
The answer, at least for most people is \u201cquite a bit,\u201d which explains why we\u2019re starting to see these new strains. Unlike PCs, many people don\u2019t put much thought, time, or effort into backing up the data on their phones. Sure, you can revert to factory settings without paying, but of course, then you\u2019ve lost everything anyway. Where your Smart TV is concerned, almost nobody gives backups on that front a second thought, because until recently, nobody ever considered that a hacker would engineer malware that targeted them.<\/p>\n
The reality, however, is that hackers will target anything if they think they can profit by doing so. Literally nothing is safe. If you have a smart device, and you don\u2019t want to lose it or see it turned against you, you\u2019ve got to spend some time and effort protecting it. That\u2019s almost always going to include giving some thought to a robust backup system.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Ransomware is becoming an epidemic. It\u2019s one of the fastest growing kinds of attacks we\u2019re seeing in 2016, and the hacking community has shown a tremendous appetite for expanding the scope and scale of their operations. PCs and laptops were, of course, obvious targets for this kind of attack, but we\u2019re now seeing strains of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":24730,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[34,30,36],"yoast_head":"\n