New feature in the latest Insider version.
Microsoft's Windows system is used by billions of individuals and businesses worldwide, and is particularly vulnerable to hostages, but now Microsoft is going to do something about it.
New feature in the latest Insider version.
Microsoft's Windows system is used by billions of individuals and businesses worldwide, and is particularly vulnerable to hostages, but now Microsoft is going to do something about it.
New hostages all the time
The latest version of Windows 10 has got a new feature that tries to put an end to the nuisance.
It is possible to turn on the Protected Folders feature, which will protect against unauthorized access to your files.
Protects your folders
The way it works is that some folders, such as Documents, Images, Videos, and Desktop, are protected by the system so that only authorized apps can access them.
This should mean that unauthorized applications, such as hostages, who attempt to access the documents in these folders are denied access.
To approve an app, you must go to Settings in Windows 10 and manually add the app, which further complicates the hostage's attempt to encrypt your files.
Can add apps and folders manually
To reduce the work of adding apps that are approved, there are already a number of apps that are pre-approved in the feature, as Ars Technica thinks, for example, may be applications from the Windows Store.
It is also possible to add additional folders to the feature to protect these as well as the default folders, but it is not possible to extract the default folders from Controlled Folders.
Will not prevent macros
However, it is unclear how useful this feature is, as many hostages are spread through, for example, Microsoft Word macros - and if Word is an approved app and access your files, malware in the application will also have access.
Controlled Folders are included in the latest Insider version of Windows 10, and we can probably expect it to be debuted in Fall Creators Update that will be released this autumn.