This is a reminder to take the proper steps to backup in a way that is not vulnerable to ransom and to always stay aware. Due to me letting my guard down, my computer files are encrypted. But I got lucky.
I got lax and just was not thinking. I needed a video format converter for a simple conversion my wife needed to covert a video on her phone to something else. I'm normally very cautious about downloading software from legitimate sources. But for whatever reason, I didn't even consider it this time and I grabbed the first converter that was recommended by an unknown reviewer. I didn't bother to look from where I was downloading. The converter didn't do what I needed. I then passed the task of finding a converter to my wife. Again, I did not think about the consequences of downloading software and I did not warn her. She picked something and it worked.
The next day, I turned on the computer and I had a screen telling me all my files are encrypted and links were provided to recover the files. Oddly enough, some are encrypted and some are not. I was able to pull up projects in Premiere normally, but some other items like Illustrator files were encrypted.
I don't use email on this computer. It is only used for videos and web browsing. So I am convinced it was one of the two downloads (likely the one I downloaded) that caused the problem.
The saving grace of the story is I backup to an external drive that was off the entire time. I happen to have a backup of both the C: drive and the editing drive on the external drive. So I will be able to recover nearly everything without paying ransom.
Lessons learned for me - Never let your guard down. I am going to have two external drives, with one offline at all times and alternate backups.
On my notebook, I always backup to a stick and remove the stick. I am now going to have two sticks that I alternate for backups.
I got lax and just was not thinking. I needed a video format converter for a simple conversion my wife needed to covert a video on her phone to something else. I'm normally very cautious about downloading software from legitimate sources. But for whatever reason, I didn't even consider it this time and I grabbed the first converter that was recommended by an unknown reviewer. I didn't bother to look from where I was downloading. The converter didn't do what I needed. I then passed the task of finding a converter to my wife. Again, I did not think about the consequences of downloading software and I did not warn her. She picked something and it worked.
The next day, I turned on the computer and I had a screen telling me all my files are encrypted and links were provided to recover the files. Oddly enough, some are encrypted and some are not. I was able to pull up projects in Premiere normally, but some other items like Illustrator files were encrypted.
I don't use email on this computer. It is only used for videos and web browsing. So I am convinced it was one of the two downloads (likely the one I downloaded) that caused the problem.
The saving grace of the story is I backup to an external drive that was off the entire time. I happen to have a backup of both the C: drive and the editing drive on the external drive. So I will be able to recover nearly everything without paying ransom.
Lessons learned for me - Never let your guard down. I am going to have two external drives, with one offline at all times and alternate backups.
On my notebook, I always backup to a stick and remove the stick. I am now going to have two sticks that I alternate for backups.
