Ramsomware continues to be one of the biggest menaces on the internet. Clicking on the wrong link could be enough to set off a sequence of events that ends with all your data being encrypted by crooks, who will only unlock it in return for a hefty ransom — usually in bitcoin or another hard-to-trace cryptocurrency.
Criminal ransomware gangs are well financed (thanks to all those bitcoin ransoms) and employ increasingly sophisticated tactics. Only low-level crooks are interested in encrypting PCs one-by-one: the big gangs seek backdoors into corporate networks and then explore until they are ready to cause maximum chaos (and a big payday) by encrypting as many devices as possible in one go.
It’s not just criminal gangs that have noticed the power of ransomware: state-backed hacking groups have also used ransomware to create both chaos and profit for their backers.
What we’re seeing is an arms race between the crooks looking for new ways to compromise systems and businesses trying to plug every gap in their defenses.
This level of threat means there’s no way to absolutely protect yourself or your business from ransomware, or indeed any other kind of malware. But there are a number of steps you can take to minimize your attack surface.
By Steve Ranger
September 18, 2019