- May 7, 2016
- 1,592
Let’s face it. We live in a completely different security world from a decade ago and the kinds of threats we face have taken a new form. This time it’s ransomware. Over the course of just a few years, this threat has evolved from an annoying pop-up to a screen freezer that utilizes disturbing imagery to a sophisticated malicious program that encrypts important files.
New technologies are popping up all the time that combat the ransomware issue, however most (if not all) require active protection before you get infected. But what do you do if your company has already been infected? This article aims to help those who have been hit with encrypting ransomware and are faced with either paying or losing files.
Why is ransomware such a problem?
Ransomware has become a huge problem for businesses because it has been so widely adopted by the bad guys. Why? This is “Game Over” malware, meaning that, at least in the criminal’s eyes, once a user gets infected, there is no recovery option other than paying the ransom. Also, victims actually pay the ransom directly to the criminal, cutting out any need for middlemen or having to sell piles of stolen credit card information on darknet forums.
It works, it’s easy, cost-effective and profitable, which is essentially the driving force of new technology since the beginning of time.
It’s likely that the future of ransomware will include things like blackmail (threats to post trade secrets or company intel online or releasing customer information), more aggressive infection and AV evasion techniques, and better target identification—all techniques that we know how to combat. However, while the news of how to stop the malware is spreading, millions of people are still going to get infected because they didn’t get the memo soon enough.
Read More:Ransomware doesn’t mean game over
New technologies are popping up all the time that combat the ransomware issue, however most (if not all) require active protection before you get infected. But what do you do if your company has already been infected? This article aims to help those who have been hit with encrypting ransomware and are faced with either paying or losing files.
Why is ransomware such a problem?
Ransomware has become a huge problem for businesses because it has been so widely adopted by the bad guys. Why? This is “Game Over” malware, meaning that, at least in the criminal’s eyes, once a user gets infected, there is no recovery option other than paying the ransom. Also, victims actually pay the ransom directly to the criminal, cutting out any need for middlemen or having to sell piles of stolen credit card information on darknet forums.
It works, it’s easy, cost-effective and profitable, which is essentially the driving force of new technology since the beginning of time.
It’s likely that the future of ransomware will include things like blackmail (threats to post trade secrets or company intel online or releasing customer information), more aggressive infection and AV evasion techniques, and better target identification—all techniques that we know how to combat. However, while the news of how to stop the malware is spreading, millions of people are still going to get infected because they didn’t get the memo soon enough.
Read More:Ransomware doesn’t mean game over
