As writers, our work, which is to say our creative lives, is probably on our computers. And our computers, as last month’s ransomware attack – called WannaCry, WanaCrypt0r, WannaCrypt, WeCry and other variants – proved, are not an impregnable fortresses or even as safe a place to keep valuable work as a box with a lock on it. WannaCry exploited a vulnerability in a Windows server to spread through corporate networks including the NHS. Where there are software, operating systems or servers, there may be vulnerabilities, or the risk of them.
What provisions can we make to protect ourselves and our precious work? Tension about malware attacks is inevitable but there are some safeguards.