I back up everything important regularly on a separate drive and keep anything sensitive in an encrypted vault. Is this enough to be unharmed by ransomware? What should I do if I get it on my computer? Should I call the cops just to be safe?
This seems more like a cybersecurity question than a privacy one, but I will happily give my input.
It is largely dependent on what the ransomware in question does as part of its malicious design. Generally, for any malware, your data backups should be done with redundancy and access control in mind. Most malware have the goal to spread as broadly as possible, which means it’ll try to compromise other devices in your network, if possible. Though, how it achieves this depends on who designed it.
TL;DR:
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Keep multiple, redundant copies of all your important data in a separate (and isolated) storage medium like a portable (external) SSD (solid-state drive) or HDD (hard disk drive). The brand doesn’t particularly matter, just stick to reputable brands if possible. I personally use an old portable Verbatim hard drive.
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You may also want to upload important data to a cloud storage provider of your choice. Fair warning, though, if your cloud storage is mounted or accessible on your filesystem on a device that gets infected, it is likely and possible ransomware will also target this as well.
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Never connect your backups to infected devices. Doing so runs the risk of ransomware encrypting over your backups, regardless of any encryption you’ve applied yourself. Devices should either be wiped and disinfected of malware or replaced before connecting your backups to them.
If you want something to loosely guide yourself on, then I recommend this article by Backblaze: Data Backup Strategies: Why the 3-2-1 Backup Strategy is the Best
There really isn’t a prefect backup strategy, which is why I’m not recommending an specific service or tool or “solution.” This is entirely dependent on your needs and requirements. But what I’ve outlined is principally sound.
I am not sure what your jurisdiction is, but I do not believe it would be of much benefit or use to you to call the police, as there is little they would probably be able to do themselves. It’s also usually not necessary. Though, you can absolutely report the malware authors or where the malware came from to cybersecurity agencies or companies that create centralized databases of malicious sources.
Thanks. Keeping redundant backups is something I’ve been wanting to do anyway in case of something like a fire. Will flash drives work, or does it need to be one of those big ones meant for computers?
You will generally want to use different storage types between separate backup drives. E.g. if you have on backup that is stored on an SSD, the other back should be on an HDD.
There is nothing wrong with using a flash drive as long as you can take care of it in a secure/safe location and it has enough storage capacity for the data you intend to backup. However it is ideal to use different physical storage types. This is meant to mitigate the risk of drive failures, which can and do happen over longer periods of time on the order of a couple of years: (How Long Does a Hard Drive Last? A Look at Hard Drive Life Expectancy)
I am not an expert by any means. I cannot really speak of say the lifetime of any specific hard drive or solid-state drive brands and/or models. I haven’t thoroughly researched all of them, so it is up to you to research what you can as well.
Ultimately, what you use should be based on what you can afford to do. That’s the most important part.