5️⃣ [Knowledge of Defense] Ransomware – the Silent Threat
🎭 One click – lose your wallet?
Ransomware is one of the most dangerous forms of cyber attacks today.
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Ransomware is a type of malware that can appear in various ways, affecting personal systems as well as networks of businesses, hospitals, airports, and government agencies.
While simple formats, often non-encrypting ransomware, modern ransomware uses encryption methods to lock files, making them inaccessible. Encrypting ransomware can also be used on hard drives as a way to completely lock the computer's operating system, preventing the victim from accessing it. The ultimate goal is to convince victims to pay a ransom for decryption – often demanded in hard-to-trace digital currencies (like Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies). However, there is no guarantee that payments will be honored by the attackers.
The popularity of ransomware has significantly increased over the past decade (especially in 2017) and as a financially motivated cyber attack, it is now the most prominent malware threat in the world - according to Europol's report (IOCTA 2018).
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