Ransomware is the scariest thing that’s ever come along, malware-wise. A ransomware worm will encrypt your files, then pop up a screen advising you to pay someone (usually via untraceable Bitcoin) to get your files back. And there’s a solid chance that if you pay, you won’t get your files back anyway.
What makes it particularly frightening is that Linux users are vulnerable to it as well. We can relax over the millions of Windows viruses and worms which require administrative power to decimate. But ransomware goes after user-accessible files, which means that it could gulp down files in the home directory, as well as accessible local backups.
What’s the only sure cure? Online backup. If you have your system backed up online, you can wipe your computer clean, reconnect to your backup source, and watch contentedly as your system comes back. Perhaps you can ponder what exactly you did to get the ransomware infection in the first place, and avoid that scenario.