Does ransomware need admin rights/root access?

Some times but for most users they only have one account of the computer. Which means they have admin rights. The best thing to avoid issues with ransomware and really any viruses is to make two accounts. One which has admin rights and is never used except to install programs and make changes to the system. Have another account which has hardly any privileges and use that one for everyday use. This way it is much harder for a virus or ransomware to be installed and make changes. A good option would to get a Malwarebytes premium membership which includes live protection which works really well.



In most cases no, once ransomware is installed on the target sys it’ll try to encrypt every directory and often times this does not require root privileges unless the system is hardened with access control softwares or HIDS