Strange folders and files appeared on my disk

I’ve noticed an increased number of people asking about strange files and folders appearing on their computer drives. Like this…

These folders and files are named randomly to avoid being targeted or ignored by ransomware writers.

I’ve instantly recognized the pattern with users asking about these “strange” files…

It’s Cybereason’s RansomFree Anti-Ransomware tool, the one I’ve actually wrote about here and I’ve even tested it myself and it’s very effective. You can read more about it here.

Cybereason RansomFree also notifies users about this, but either people click over it quickly or forget about it…

These folders and files are called “honeypot” files and they are placed there to trick ransomware into fiddling with them and when ransomware does that, RansomFree pounces on it. Ransomware is captured and you don’t actually lose any of your real documents.

Be aware that if you have such strange files and you haven’t installed Cybereason’s RansomFree or any other security product that uses similar protection mechanism, I suggest thorough scanning of the computer with security software (antivirus).