Attorney General Andy Beshear warned Kentuckians to be cautious of an online scam where hackers target personal and business computers with ransomware. The harmful software is designed to block access to a computer system until hundreds and even thousands of dollars are paid and is often downloaded onto a computer when a user opens a tainted email attachment, visits a compromised website or clicks on a bogus Internet advertisement. Beshear said that ransomware has had a tremendous impact on families and businesses in Kentucky and across the country. You can find tips to protect yourself from ransomware at fraud.org and you can report ransomware activity to the Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Office at 888-432-9257.