Ransomware locks you out of your own files and demands payment to restore access. It is one of the more disruptive forms of malware a home user or small business can encounter — and it is exactly the kind of threat TotalAV's real-time scanner is built to intercept.
What ransomware does
Ransomware is a category of malicious software that, once it reaches your device, encrypts your files — documents, photos, videos, spreadsheets — and makes them unreadable without a decryption key. The attacker then presents a demand: pay (usually in cryptocurrency) to receive the key, or lose your files permanently.
The delivery route is usually one of three things: a malicious email attachment, a compromised link in a message or on a website, or an exploit targeting an out-of-date piece of software. The encryption process itself can begin within minutes of the initial infection, which is why speed of detection matters.
Where antivirus fits in
Antivirus software intercepts ransomware before or during execution, rather than after the damage is done. TotalAV's real-time protection watches processes running on your device and compares them against known threat signatures. When a file or process matches the pattern of known ransomware behaviour, it is quarantined before the encryption can start or spread.
TotalAV also includes Zero Day cloud scanning — a layer that checks files against a constantly updated cloud database of emerging threats. This is relevant because ransomware variants appear and mutate frequently; a cloud-based system can recognise new variants faster than a locally stored signature database would allow.
WebShield and the delivery stage
Much ransomware arrives via phishing — a deceptive email or message that points to a spoofed website, where a malicious file is downloaded. TotalAV's WebShield browser extension works at the delivery stage: it checks URLs against lists of known phishing and scam domains and blocks the page before it loads.
This means that even if a link in an email looks convincing, WebShield can prevent the visit that triggers the download. Blocking at the delivery stage reduces reliance on the scanner catching the file after it has already arrived on the device.
What TotalAV cannot guarantee
No antivirus can guarantee 100% detection of every threat. Ransomware variants that have not yet been identified or catalogued may not be caught by signature-based scanning. TotalAV's Zero Day cloud layer mitigates this, but it is still good practice to keep regular backups of important files on a drive that is not continuously connected to your device — an external hard drive kept offline, for example. Antivirus is one layer of defence, not a substitute for sensible backup habits.