We live in a world where data is being created, stored, and shared every minute of every day. The data around us is essential, and it's critical that each of us do our part to make sure it doesn't go anywhere. World Backup Day is a designated day for users to learn more about the role data plays in our lives and why backing the information up is critical. Each year World Backup Day is observed on March 31st and serves as a great reminder that data loss isn't a joking matter.

We're all guilty of moving away from actually printing pictures. The norm has become storing your memories in a folder on your device and taking things on the go. While it's nice to always have access to your pictures, what happens if you accidentally overwrite the file and you lose the picture forever? Sounds like you could be out of luck. Our IT expert Randy Moore joined the Guy Phillips Show for Tech Talk on KTRS last Friday to talk about the importance of securely backing up your personal data.

As we wrap up National Cyber Security Awareness Month (NCSAM) we're also welcoming Halloween! This is the time of the year that the fictional monsters come out to play, but what about the monsters hiding behind a keyboard all year long? That's right, cyber criminals are the monsters who are out and about 365 days per year, disturbing the peace and unleashing chaos on end users. Here are our 7 cyber attack facts you should know:

Last week on Tech Talk on The Big 550 KTRS our IT expert, Rion Kolosieke, joined the show to talk about having a disaster recovery plan and how to securely store your documents. Guy Phillips was in good humor and talking about technology jokes too. It's almost Halloween and keeping up with some of our St. Louis roots, we just wanted to leave you with a technology joke before we dive into our segment from last week. What do you call having your grandma on speed dial? Instagram! That's the last of the corny jokes, we promise. Data backup and disaster recovery, however, isn't something to joke about.

You are in the midst of running down the stairs and you slip and fall down the entire the entire flight. You gash your head and lose consciousness. As you come to, you notice people standing over you. A person hands you a towel for your head and says, “That was quite the fall, but you look to be okay.” So, you take him for his word, right? Wrong! You go to the hospital to see a professional where they can check you out, make sure nothing below the surface is wrong, and give you stitches for the gash across your forehead. You make sure that a professional has the chance to confirm that you are not in any danger. If it makes sense to see a doctor after hitting your head, wouldn’t the same logic apply to issues in other domains? Shouldn’t your IT infrastructure be handled with the same care? Technology is too unique and sensitive to not assure that it is checked by professionals.

Ransomware is the leading cyber security threat in 2018. In a recent podcast, Hal Lonas, CTO of the security software provider Webroot, offered a succinct explanation of how ransomware has flipped the security threat paradigm on its ear. “It used to be that the bad guys wanted data because it was valuable to them,” he said. “With ransomware, they’re essentially asking: ‘your data isn’t valuable to me, but how much is worth to you?’ It’s scary how smart it is.” New types of ransomware will continue to surface. Hackers are constantly modifying ransomware code to evade detection by defense technologies, such as security software. This year, we’ve witnessed a surge in “polymorphic” malware, which is malware that changes automatically to appear unique to different endpoints. Security software often fails to discover these variants. To decrypt files, hackers typically demand a ransom in the form of bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies.

 It's Monday, and you're getting back into the office from your week-long vacation with the family. The second you sit down at your desk, you see an email from your wife. It appears to be a link sent via a Dropbox account and you assume, amidst your morning haze, that the link contains the pictures from your vacation. You click on the link and then… it happens. Your computer becomes corrupted. You've become the latest victim of a Ransomware attack. Well, what happens next?