The City of Tulsa situated in Oklahoma which is suffered from a ransomware attack and the organization had to shut down all its services to revoke the spread of the malware. Tulsa is the second-largest city in Oklahoma having a population of around 400,000 people.

However, over the weekend the attackers are deploying the ransomware attack on the City of Tulsa network that forces them to shut down their online services. According to the experts, they have identified the malware used in this attack, and to fix that and control its effect they have to stop the services.

However, important services like 911 and others are still working. They will shut down the entire city systems to protect their citizens from online bill payment, emails, utility billing, and multiple others. Website of the city and another city council, police, and 311 websites are also going for maintenance.

Whereas, the city phones system is still activated, whoever needs anything will contact you over the call. The city was also aware of all the citizens about this attack using Facebook posts. The spokesperson said that all the information of the customers is not compromised and they were safe.

Although, the City of Tulsa said that due to some technical difficulties multiple programs are affected that serve the citizens and no customer information has been leaked, due to some security reasons they have to shut down the serves of the city.

According to the researchers, these types of attacks are rapidly growing and affecting multiple users and earning millions of dollars as ransom. To control the spread of these attacks the experts were shared some tips that were described below;

Tips to Prevent Ransomware Attacks

How to prevent ransomware attacks or recommendations to prevent ransomware attacks starting from unverified links to spam emails. Check them out one by one.

• Never Connect Doubtful Links : Don’t click on spam email connections, always review the emails before downloading any data from the attached link. Once the ransomware is inserted into your computer, it will start encrypting the files and then demand ransom to recover your data. 
• Employ Anti-Virus and Email Filtering Software : Constantly review the updates of antivirus correspondingly confirm that you used email filtering to safeguard from ransomware attacks.
• Don’t Unlock Untrusted Email Attachment : If you receive an attachment and you are not sure about the sender then do not open it without confirming with the person or scan the attachment with an antivirus. Never open attachments that ask you to macros to view them. The attachment looks genuine but they contain malware that controls your system.
• Download from Trusted Sites : Always download everything from trusted sites. Read the license agreement and demonstrate that site uses HTTPS instead of HTTP. Always open verified sites for example Android users should download the data from Play Store and iPhone users can use iTunes.
• Never Share Your Confidential Data : Avoid sharing your private information to anyone over call, text, email that comes from an untrusted source. Attackers use your information in a phishing email to target you. Many attackers may steal your data information and infect your system with the help of your information.
• Backup your Data : Continuously back up your crucial data to an external hard drive. The most necessary thing to prevent ransomware attacks is always to keep a backup of your data on local or cloud storage accordingly. Once the data is backed then remove the drive from the system.
• Employ Strong Passwords : Do not use a weak password like 12345678, always use a strong or encrypted password like 185@abc to control unauthorized access.
• Inspect the Attached Devices : Never use any removal device if you are not aware of them. Many attackers infect the removal devices and left them in public places.
• Encourage User Awareness : Consistently aware of your employees about how to spot this threat. Guide them about the precluding methods and always advise them to take a backup of their data.
• Maintain System Updates : Immediately install the update delivered by your OS to patch the vulnerability present. Always update your installed applications to bypass the random invasion.

Summering Up

These tips are very essential for all the users who are accessing the web and these solutions are also the range for revoking the ransomware attacks and these are only possible by using the coordinated effort that help the organizations prevent and respond to these attacks.