Acronis Ransomware Protection for ransomware protection
Acronis Ransomware Protection is a free anti-ransomware program that protects your computer in real time. The application prevents the execution of dangerous processes emanating from ransomware, and in case of data damage on the computer, it helps to quickly restore files without paying a ransom to attackers.
Nowadays, no one is immune from the risk of malware infection on the system. Antiviruses and other similar applications do not always detect or cope with the impact of viruses on the computer in time. Attackers are constantly coming up with new ways to bypass the protection of antivirus software.
Ransomware virus – Ransomware is used by attackers to encrypt files, block and interfere with the system and applications. Most often, ransomware encrypts the most common types of files in the system, paralyzing the work on the computer. Such malware includes well-known viruses: WannaCry , Bad Rabbit, Petya, Osiris, etc.
For providing a key for decrypting files (decryptor), the affected user is required to pay a ransom. In most cases, attackers do not provide anything, but simply deceive the victims, receiving money from them.
Acronis Ransomware Protection is designed to protect your computer from ransomware. With the help of Acronis Active Protection technology, which uses artificial intelligence, system processes and applications running in the Windows operating system are monitored on a computer in real time.
Acronis Ransomware Protection performs the following tasks on the computer:
- Detect and repel ransomware attacks.
- Back up your important data (5 GB free cloud storage provided).
- Fast recovery of damaged files without paying a ransom.
- Increase the overall level of computer security.
Acronis Ransomware Protection monitors the behavior of the software on the computer:
- if an attempt to perform unauthorized encryption is detected, this operation is immediately blocked;
- if a suspicious process is detected in the system, the program notifies the user of its presence, allowing the user to independently choose what to do: end the process or continue its execution on the computer.
Important data from the “Documents” folder of the user profile is automatically copied to the cloud storage every 15 minutes. Ransomware viruses are unable to access file backups in remote cloud storage. 5 GB is provided free of charge (half-year subscription) to store user data in the Acronis Cloud.
This achieves two-layer protection: directly on the PC and in the cloud. If a virus was able to encrypt or corrupt files on the computer, the user can use Acronis Ransomware Protection to quickly restore corrupted data from a backup in the cloud storage.
Acronis Ransomware Protection runs on the computer in the background and does not conflict with other anti-virus software. When the Internet is disabled, Acronis Ransomware Protection protects the computer, but does not back up due to lack of connection to the cloud storage.
Acronis Ransomware Protection is developed by Acronis, a well-known manufacturer of protection, backup and recovery software. Many users are familiar with such company products as Acronis True Image (there is a free version – Acronis True Image WD Edition ), Acronis Data Director, etc.
Go to the official Acronis website to download the Acronis Ransomware Protection program to your computer. The application runs on the Windows operating system in Russian.
Installing Acronis Ransomware Protection
When installing the program on your computer, accept the terms of the license agreement. In the final part, you need to sign in to your Acronis account.
If you don’t have an account, click on the “I don’t have an account yet” link. Enter your data in the program window to create an Acronis account.
In the Acronis Ransomware Protection application window, in four successive windows, read the manual about how the program works.
Starting a backup in Acronis Ransomware Protection
Acronis Ransomware Protection is running and the application is running in the background. The application icon is located in the notification area.
To enable double protection (enable the backup function), drag the desired folders to the special area, or add folders manually using Explorer.
Dual protection enabled: Acronis Ransomware Protection protects your computer, monitors system processes, backs up important documents.
Acronis Ransomware Protection Interface
The Acronis Ransomware Protection program window displays the computer protection status in real time.
The Active Protection area shows information about the state of protection at a given time: the number of suspicious and all processes on the computer is indicated.
The diagram indicates the status of protection using a specific color:
- Green color – trusted processes.
- Blue color – suspicious processes.
- Red color – blocked suspicious processes.
The “Cloud Backup” area displays data about the last successful backup, the amount of space used in the cloud. On the scale, different colors indicate the space occupied by certain types of files in storage.
To enter the settings, use the icon in the upper right corner of the application window.
Active Protection protection in Acronis Ransomware Protection
The Active Protection area displays information about running processes. To manage processes, use the “black” and “white” lists.
Click on Manage Processes to add applications to the list of trusted or blocked processes.
In the “Process Management” window, by default, processes that are suspicious, according to the program, are displayed. The user can independently add an additional application to the “Process Management” list.
To do this, you need to click on the “Add process” button, and then select an application on your computer. In this case, a new list of “Added applications” will appear in the list of processes, which can be blocked on the computer, or removed from this list.
Select an application from the Suspicious Processes list. Use the “Block” or “Trust” button to decide the fate of the suspicious process. After clicking on the “Block” button, the application will be prevented from starting when trying to make changes on this computer.
Acronis Ransomware Protection will block the execution of the process if it detects actions that resemble the behavior of ransomware or if an attempt is made to inject malicious code. The program will notify the user about the incident. The user decides on his own whether to allow the application to modify files or block the execution of a dangerous process.
Backup in Acronis Ransomware Protection
The Cloud Backup area displays information about the last backup performed, the number of protected files, and the total size occupied by backups. The program automatically copies the selected data to the cloud storage every 15 minutes.
To add or change backup folders, click the gear button. In the Backup Data window, add a new folder, change or remove a folder from the backup.
To log in to Acronis Cloud, in the Acronis Ransomware Protection window, click the Browse button, after which you will be logged into the cloud storage page opened in the default browser.
In the tabs “Files”, “Sharing” and “Status of the cloud storage”, you can manage the created backups.
Old backups can be deleted from the cloud in order to free up storage space for new backups. Enter the “Data storage status” tab to delete unnecessary backups, click on “Clear space”.
In the Cleanup window, select the backup versions to delete. To perform advanced cleaning, click on the “Advanced cleaning” button.
Choose the cleanup settings you want and whether it applies to the entire cloud, backups, or syncs.
Restoring from a backup in Acronis Ransomware Protection
To restore files from a backup, do the following:
- Sign in to your cloud storage with your Acronis account.
- In the “Files” tab, select the desired backup, and then click on the “Download” button.
If the backup contains several files, the files will be downloaded to your computer in a ZIP archive.
Article Conclusions
Acronis Ransomware Protection is a free program to protect your computer from ransomware viruses. Acronis Ransomware Protection performs double protection: it monitors the operation of processes and applications in real time, and constantly backs up important data to the cloud storage.