Ransomware can be very troublesome for both individuals and for businesses and cause untold harm and concern. It can cause stress, financial issues, and also significant working problems for businesses.
Basically, ransomware is a type of program that will encrypt the data on a victim's device. Then, this virus will only let you get your files back if you pay them money, essentially holding the files for ransom.
Ransomware isn't anything new, it has been an issue since the late 80s and would be spread through floppy disks. That old ransomware would ask for about $200 back then.
In the year of 2019, there was a ransomware attack on the city of Baltimore which cost them millions to recover from.
When it comes down to it, ransomware attacks in a few stages and they all have a similar goal. These types of attacks start with infiltrating a target network and then the goal is to encrypt everything possible as fast as it can. Cyber security products like XDR can help prevent such issues.
At first, an attacker needs to get the malware onto a target device. In most cases, it's done through what is known as a phishing attack. After this happens, the ransomware will then try to replicate itself so it can spread or it may just deliver a payload locally.
After the initial attack starts, the malware will then reach out to whoever is behind the attack. This will tell them there is a new victim and that they need to start the process of sending out the keys that help to encrypt and decrypt data.
At this point, the ransomware will begin to encrypt everything on the victim's device that it can get to. Generally, it will start at wherever the ransomware is on the device. It will then look for ways to spread itself. There are some ransomware malware options that tried to track down BitCoin wallets. However, others, like the one known as WannaCry, tried to spread themselves far and wide before encrypting files.
After the victim is dealt a blow that involves their files being encrypted, there will be a message on their device that says to send money to a BitCoin link to get the files to be unencrypted. The victim will also find out that they have a certain time limit before files all start to get deleted.
If you look at it a certain way, it's easy to see that cryptocurrency is a great invention for cyberattacks. It can help ransomware make attackers a lot of money. It's not easy for people to track down the payments. Thus, it's a lot easier to get away with an attack in most cases.
These days you'll also see attackers that say they'll expose data on top of encrypting it. This is because ransomware now doesn't just stop at encryption. It can be written to share data with the people that are behind the attack.
In the end, the victim will hope that they can pay and get their data back. But, it's really up to the attackers what happens after they get the money the attack had the victim send to them.
When it comes to attackers getting the money, they generally don't work with you. This shouldn't surprise you. Of course, this is why Baltimore's ransomware issue took a long time to recover from. They had to get their data back by working with IT professionals.
It's important for a person to prepare for a ransomware attack. Especially, since the best way to deal with one is to not have it cause you issues in the first place. You can't count on the attacker to send the data back or to send a key to decrypt everything so prevention is important to look into.
