Week 3: Ransomware

This week we are going to discuss the ransomware and some common types of ransomware used in recent years and how to prevent those attacks. Ransomware: Ransomware is a malicious code or software where it locks the user system or mobile and unlocks only after paying the ransom to the attacker. Ransomware caused mainly through Phishing and spam emails. In most cases, ransomware demands timing where money has to paid on time or else data will be lost forever. There are some occurrences where victims, even after paying the cash, they didn't receive the decryption key back from the attackers. Ransomware gets popularity after the emergences of the cryptocurrency like bitcoin. How do we prevent those attacks? Prevention is better than cure. Avoid opening the malicious email, and having secure email transfers in the organization will prevent ransomware. Regular updates of the antivirus in the system and mobile antivirus are some ways in avoiding the ransomware. Avoid clicking unwanted banner or links that display on the side of the site. Common types of Ransomware:

Crypto locker: It's one of the old forms of ransomware where it locks the computer with powerful encryption and its very difficult to decrypt until a ransom is paid by the victim. Wannacry: Wannacry is another ransomware in 2017 where it locked almost close to 300000 computers across the globe. And it happened due to security loophole in the old Microsoft window operating system. Although a patch was released long back by Microsoft even before the attacks, many organization missed updating the security patches. Bad Rabbit: Its another kind of ransomware where it spread through a fake update of Adobe Flash updates. It affected mainly Russia and Ukraine media companies. Notpetya: Notpetya is one of the famous ransomware just like the wannacry where it locked the master boot record of the windows operating system. Several reports suggested that even after paying the ransom victims were unable to unlock the operating system.

References

Josh Fruhlinger(2018, August 8).What is WannaCry ransomware, how does it infect, and who was responsible?. Retrieved from https://www.csoonline.com/article/3227906/what-is-wannacry-ransomware-how-does-it-infect-and-who-was-responsible.html

Ransomware is big business. Retrieved from https://www.proofpoint.com/us/threat-reference/ransomware

Different Types of Ransomware. Retrieved from https://enterprise.comodo.com/different-types-of-ransomware.php