So if you have been listening to the news, you've likely heard about the worldwide ransomwhere epidemic that has now affected over 200,000 users in over 150 countries. The two big questions for users are "Am I at risk?" and "What can I do to protect myself?". So here are the key things to know:

1. This is a "self-propagating" infection. That means it spreads entirely on its own, without a user having to "do" anything (click a link, open a email, visit a web page, download a file, etc). So it spreads fast and invisibly.
2. It targets computers on your network after already getting in on another computer on your network. As a result, most home users are not at high risk of ever seeing this on their home networks. The main victims are large companies and organizations
3. As long as you're keeping up-to-date with Windows updates, and have a decent router/firewall, you should be fine. Many businesses have reasons they hold back updates (or their internal management systems fail) which is another reason they're falling victim. The average home user with Windows Updates enabled will be fine.
4. It's only targeting Windows users. Mac and Linux users are not at risk.
5. There's a fix for Windows XP if you're still running it (you absolutely should not be), but it has to be installed manually.
6. Most home routers have a built-in firewall that, as long as it's configured correctly (usually the default), would shield your home network from ever getting infected in the first place. You'd have to bring an already-infected computer in from the outside and let it connect to your home network, and even then you'd have to have Windows computers that weren't keeping up with Windows Updates.
7. This type of malware is called "ransomware". If you do happen to get infected, the only option you're presented with is to pay a $300/$600 "ransom" and hope they decrypt your files. This is never advised as it isn't guaranteed and just encourages the ransomware creators to do it more in the future. For those reasons, keeping good backups is the best way to protect yourself against any sort of ransomware outbreaks (there are plenty of others out there which do affect home users) as well as countless other things which put your data at risk (hard drive crash, fire, accidental deletion, etc).