Bitdefender Anti-Ransomware released

Bitdefender Anti-Ransomware is a new product by security company Bitdefender to protect Windows PCs against several ransomware families.

Ransomware describes a specific type of malicious software that has been designed to force users to pay ransom -- usually in the form of Bitcoin -- by encrypting data or locking the screen, and threatening users into action.

There are ways users can protect their data against ransomware attacks. This begins with the right security software but does not end there. Regular, offsite backups, can be important as well.

Programs like HitmanPro.Kickstart, Malwarebytes Anti-Ransomware or Trend Micro AntiRansomware have all been designed to block specific ransomware families from attacking Windows PCs successfully. How that do that is different though, the Malwarebytes program for instance uses proactive algorithms to stop ransomware, while Trend Micro's tool offers solutions to deal with lock screen ransomware only.

Bitdefender Anti-Ransomware

Bitdefender Anti-Ransomware has just been released as a new Labs project. This means that the program is not yet advertised on the company's main website.

You can download the program using the following web page and install it on any PC running a supported versions of the Windows operating system.

As is the case with other Labs projects, there is little information available at the time of writing. For instance, Bitdefender does not list supported operating systems. We tested the program on a PC running Windows 10 and it installed and ran fine on it.

The about page of the program lists the ransomware families that Bitdefender Ransomware protects against.

According to that page, it protects against known and future versions of CTB-Locker, Locky and TeslaCrypt.

It should be clear from this that Bitlocker Anti-Ransomware does not protect against all ransomware attacks. Trend Micro lists dozens of ransomware families on its website for instance, and one question that you will have to ask yourself is whether it makes sense to run the program on your machine.

It is possible that new ransomware families will be added to the program in the future though which would make it more attractive.

Bitdefender Anti-Ransomware ships with three settings. One, that it runs automatically on system start, is enabled by default, while the two remaining settings have the program minimize to tray on startup automatically, and minimize to tray when the close button is activated.

Closing Words

Bitdefender Anti-Ransomware is a free program that adds some level of protection against three known ransomware families currently.