Ransomware has been dominating the news for several weeks, and is likely to stay in the news for most of the year.  Ransomware is a distinct type of cyber attack, in that it extorts payment from the victim in exchange for allowing access to something that was encrypted in the attack.  The most prevalent type of malware used in this kind of crime is ‘crypto-ransomware’, which normally encrypts the files on the compromised system, and then demands a ransom in return for the ability to decrypt and recover the files.  The latest iteration of crypto-ransomware is called Locky, and is the most advanced version of ransomware we have seen in the wild.

Ransomware isn’t new; the first piece of ransomware was distributed via 5 1/4 floppy drives through snail mail back in 1989 (pdf).  It wasn’t very successful, but criminals obviously recognized the potential of generating revenue through extortion.  Read more