Automatic Malware Recovery via Remote File Backup
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Ransomware attacks pose a significant threat as they encrypt important files, making them inaccessible without a decryption key, leading to potential data loss and system compromise, and existing recovery methods are complicated and often ineffective.
Innovation Solution
A system and method that automatically identifies processes with unknown reputations, saves file backups on remote storage before modification, and restores files if the process is determined to be malicious, thereby mitigating the effects of malware attacks and ensuring data integrity.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If manual recovery methods are used after ransomware attacks, then users can attempt to restore files, but the recovery process becomes complicated and often impossible without a decryption key
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by automatically creating backup copies of files before allowing processes with unknown reputations to modify them. This proactive backup mechanism ensures that if ransomware encrypts the original files, clean copies are already available for restoration, making recovery simple and reliable without requiring manual intervention or decryption keys.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If ransomware encrypts files to hold them for ransom, then the files become inaccessible without a decryption key, but this leads to potential permanent data loss and system compromise
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements beforehand cushioning by creating protective backup copies of files before ransomware can encrypt them. These backup copies serve as a cushion against data loss, ensuring that even if ransomware successfully encrypts the original files, the information is preserved in the backup and can be restored without paying ransom or suffering permanent loss.
3Reliability
If the system saves backup copies of files for all processes with unknown reputations, then file protection is enhanced, but storage space is consumed and system resources are used
Solution Approach 1:
The system applies partial action by creating backup copies selectively rather than universally. It focuses on creating backups only for files that are targeted by processes with unknown reputations, rather than backing up all files on the system. This approach provides adequate protection against ransomware while minimizing unnecessary consumption of storage space and system resources.
Data Source
AI summary
The disclosed computer-implemented methods for automatically recovering from malware attacks may include (1) saving, in response to determining that a reputation of a process is unknown, a backup copy of a file on a remote storage device prior to allowing the process to modify the file; (2) determining, after the process has modified the file, that the process is potentially malicious; and (3) restoring, in response to determining that the process is potentially malicious, the backup copy of the file from the remote storage device. The provided methods may automatically recover computers from ransomware attacks and other malware attacks which encrypt file systems. Various other methods, systems, and computer-readable media are also disclosed.