Hackers have been targeting corporate computer systems globally, but a North Texas company is working to protect local computers.
There's no nice way to say it, Randy Haba is an ethical hacker.
He spends his day digging through computer systems and programs looking for a way to break in.
Haba's hacking is with good reason – once he finds a way in, he seals it shut.
"There's a saying: 'You can't know where you're going until you know where you've been.' It's the same thing with hacking. You have to know what they're targeting," Haba said.
He and the team at DKB Innovative in Frisco are cyber security experts.
Companies hire them to keep their computer systems up and running.
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These guys got very little sleep over the weekend, double checking their clients' systems knowing that hackers were infecting computers and charging money to unlock them.
"The cost to unlock the machine is low. It's $300 per computer and goes up over time, but you think about that on a massive scale with thousands of networks impacted," said Keith Barthold, the company's owner.
"We're very vulnerable, we've just seen the first wave. It's going to get worse," Barthold said.
The team recommends you back up your files. That way, if your computer gets infected, you simply delete everything and start over from your backup.
If you don't do that ahead of time, you're out of luck – the hackers have won.
