My system is not infected with ransomware. I was just thinking about ways to deal with it if it ever happened. Since I can boot my windows PC with a Linux USB and access the HDD, shouldn’t it be possible to use the USB drive to back-up the HDD after ransomware was installed? Most ransomware uses the browser to lock up the computer, does it not? All anyone would have to do is boot with a Linux USB and transfer the files from the HDD to an external drive. Then reformat the HDD, reinstall windows and be on their merry way. Unless BIOS is infected (which is unlikely) there should be no issue, right?
I would just like to know if this is a viable solution.
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Answer
Most ransomware encrypt your HDD. So, if you were to boot to your Linux Drive, you will not be able to view the files in your HDD as it is encrypted and you don’t know the key. Most common ransomware use your encrypted data as ransom and will only give you the decryption key if you pay them their ransom. So, using a USB drive to save your computer will not work.
However, you should be able to format your drive from the Linux bootable drive, but you will still lose all your data