Researchers have conducted a technical experiment, testing ten ransomware variants to determine how fast they encrypt files and evaluate how feasible it would be to timely respond to their attacks.
Ransomware is malware that enumerates the files and directories on a compromised machine, selects valid encryption targets, and then encrypts the data, so it is unavailable without a corresponding decryption key.
This prevents the data owner from accessing the files, so ransomware attacks are either carried out for data destruction and operational disruption or financial extortion, demanding the payment of a ransom in return for a decryption key.
How fast a device is encrypted is important, as the quicker it is detected, the less damage is done, and the volume of data needing to be restored is kept to a minimum.
