McAfee Ransomware Interceptor : Protection Against Ransomware Attacks

A ransomware is a type of malware that usually encrypts your files or locks access to your device and then demands a ransom from the victim to be paid to undo the changes made by it. These malware attacks are controlled by cyber-criminals sitting in safe havens, hidden behind an array of servers and are very difficult to be traced. A victim usually knows that their computer is under attack when they see the ransom screen with instructions to send the money.

Your best bet against any future ransomware attacks is to keep a regular backup of your important files on a portable storage device or on one of the cloud services. Installing a good antivirus software from a reputed firm is also essential to defend against all the malware infections. And now the old player in the computer security McAfee has produced a special tool called “McAfee Ransomware Interceptor” that monitors processes for suspicious ransomware-like behavior and blocks them before they can do any damage.

McAfee Ransomware Interceptor

This tool is still in the pilot mode (experimental tool) and may not give the desired results. But upon installation it seems to sit in the notification area of Windows and monitors all the processes. If you launch any of the unsigned programs, then you can feel a tiny bit of lag – meaning that they are being scanned and watched.

From the notification area menu, you can start or stop the monitoring of processes, you can whitelist any program file that is being blocked by it but you know to be harmless, you can also view the detection log to see what it has been doing behind the scenes.

McAfee Ransomware Interceptor

There are no options to configure for the McAfee Ransomware Interceptor and it seems to run well along with other antivirus products (in my case Avast Antivirus), so there is no reason for not trying it out and protecting your PC against new and unknown ransomware.

You can download McAfee Ransomware Interceptor from https://www.mcafee.com/in/downloads/free-tools/interceptor.aspx.