Attention ACCPAC Plus user.
You are highly susceptible to a Ransomware infection!
WHAT IS RANSOMWARE
Ransomware is
a type of malicious software that blocks access to the victim's
computer or data or threatens to publish or delete the data until a
ransom is paid. While some simple ransomware may lock the system, more
advanced malware encrypts the victim's files, making them inaccessible,
and demands a ransom payment to decrypt them. Ransomware targets a wide
range of data: Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, files for all types
of photos, music, and more.
Total
Ransomware losses in the U.S. hit $1 billion in 2016, up from $24
million in 2015, the FBI estimated. Ransomware is on the rise. As of
September, 2016 the U.S. Justice Department reported more than 4,000
ransomware attacks daily since January 1, 2016. This is a 300 percent
increase over the approximately 1,000 attacks per day seen in 2015.
McAfee
Labs discovered nearly 1.2 million ransomware attacks during the first
quarter of 2016, a 24 percent increase compared to the fourth quarter
of 2015.
The
consequences of Ransomware can be costly -- lost data (customer lists,
Receivables data, project files), negative publicity, lost customers,
downtime, being forced to increase spending on security.
One of the most important, most
often named defenses against Ransomware is to be sure that your
network, Windows and other software have the latest patches and not to
use software that is no longer supported.
Most people that still use ACCPAC Plus are
running it on very old hardware, using Windows XP and very old network
software like Novell. This is done out of necessity, because ACCPAC
Plus is a DOS program and no Windows Operating System after Windows
Vista (the successor to Windows XP) can run DOS.
It is extremely important to be sure you have
working backups that are air-gapped (i.e. the backup is physically
disconnected from your system after the backup is completed) and that
you have offsite backups. If you are using the default .DAT extension
for your ACCPAC Plus data, we highly recommend that it be changed as
Ransomware attacks files with a .dat extension thinking they may be
data of some type. Many companies have discovered that when needed, the
backups they have been running for years were not backing up the proper
files, were corrupted, incomplete or otherwise useless. We also
strongly recommend that you do a fire drill from time to time, that is,
restore and test your backups.
Micro Management Associates can set up a daily backup of
your data to the cloud on a subscription basis. We can also test your
data on a regular basis to check ACCPAC Plus data integrity and be sure
the backup is complete. We can include other data (Word, Excel, etc.)
in the backup as well. You will have a login to this backup and be able
to access it from anywhere.
Adagio accounting software by Softrak can easily convert your ACCPAC
Plus data. The business logic, screens and reports in Adagio are very
similar and familiar to ACCPAC Plus users resulting in a shallow, quick
learning curve. We can move you to Adagio in a day! Please contact us
if you would like to see a no cost, no obligation, low pressure demo of
Adagio.
Micro Management Associates is available to consult on all Ransomware matters.
