Protect Yourself From Ransomware With the New Microsoft OneDrive Update
There are many scams , hacks and viruses on the web, but ransomware is one of the worst. The tactic in which hackers hijack your online accounts and hold them hostage in exchange for cash have become more common in the past few years.
If you’re worried about this happening to you, the latest updates to Microsoft OneDrive and Outlook should allay some of those concerns. The company is implementing a number of new security features to protect your personal information when using its cloud storage and email applications, with one caveat – you need to subscribe to its Office 365 service.
To protect you from ransomware, OneDrive is getting a new file recovery feature that allows you to recover your account at any point in the past 30 days. For example, if you’ve been attacked by a hacker (or deleted all of your files by mistake), you can quickly access a flawless backup. Microsoft will also warn you if you become the target of a ransomware program so that you have time to act before you completely block your account.
Microsoft is also strengthening its email. For starters, all messages and attachments sent using Outlook will now have end-to-end encryption. You can also put a password on any OneDrive link sent via Outlook for an extra layer of protection. Finally, the company is adding the ability to turn off forwarding for certain emails sent from Outlook if you’re concerned that a message containing valuable information might accidentally reach the wrong person. According to Microsoft, this feature also prevents the recipient from copying the body of your email, but someone could probably find a way to bypass this block if it was actually identified.
Almost everything Microsoft announced is available today – provided you update your OneDrive and Outlook apps. The only exception is the password-protected OneDrive links, which are due out in the next few weeks.