How Bitcoin helped fuel an explosion in ransomware attacks

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Secure payment system Bitcoin has many legitimate uses, but like other technologies, it's also been beneficial to cybercriminals seeking new ways to extort money.

Ransomware is booming. Be it Locky, CryptXXX or one of the countless other variants of the data-encrypting malware, cybercriminals are making hundreds of thousands of dollars every month off the back of swathes of infected victims each paying a few hundred dollars each to get access to their files back.

Cybersecurity researchers have warned that ransomware represents the most problematic cyber-threat. The most infamous ransomware attack this year took place at the Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center, with the Los Angeles hospital forced to declare an "internal emergency" after its IT systems were locked down and held to ransom by hackers.

Ransom demands are typically made in Bitcoin, the cryptographic digital currency based on Blockchain distributed ledger technology, which offers a secure, often untraceable, method of making and receiving payments -- a perfect currency for those who want their financial activities to remain hidden.

The popularity of Bitcoin has grown significantly in recent years and ransomware has spiked in 2016: [Could] the growth of the two therefore be tied together?

Find out more: How Bitcoin helped fuel an explosion in ransomware attacks | ZDNet