By Diana Contesti, CISSP-ISSAP, ISSMP, CSSLP, SSCP
Ransomware is in the news lately with attacks on Norsk Hydro, multiple cities in Florida, Baltimore and Atlanta, not to mention the numerous hospitals that have been hit.
These attacks have cost companies like Norsk an estimated $45 million due to lost revenues and the cost to restore and recover their IT department. The cost to the two cities in Florida is estimated to be $1.1 million and the tally continues to grow.
Ransomware is short for ransom malware and has been around since the late 1980s, but is now gaining in popularity from bad actors. The software typically prevents users from accessing their system or personal files and then will demand a payment to restore the user’s access to their data.
In the late 1980s, payment could be made via email, but this has changed and the writers are now demanding payments via credit card payments or cryptocurrency.
Today, this malware typically works in one of two modes, either denying access to the data or encrypting it.
Ransomware comes in three main types:
Scareware
Screen Lockers
Encrypting ransomware
With Scareware, the user will see pop-up messages saying that a virus has been discovered and the user has to pay to eliminate the issue, however, doing nothing will typically result in being bombarded with pop-ups to the point that system may be unusable, but the user’s files are typically okay and have not been affected.
Screen Lockers on the other hand are more damaging as the device is frozen, or the user is locked out. These have been se ..
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