History of Ransomware and how it has evolved

It has not taken long to prove that ransomware in history is one of the “master” attacks of cybercrime. It is characterized by being extremely efficient and is a whole money-making machine. In a single event, he is able to raise thousands of dollars from innocent victims. These people think that by paying the ransom they will have their files back. Unfortunately, this is not the case in the vast majority of cases.

However, ransomware has been talked about for quite some time in cybersecurity and technology circles. In fact, for the past decade, ransomware has been arguably the most widespread and pervasive cyber threat. According to US government figures, however in history of ransomware attacks, since 2005 have exceeded the number of online data breaches.

The fact that ransomware attacks weren’t on a global scale may have helped keep them unnoticed by the general public. WannaCry changed that. With a rate of more than 300,000 computers affected worldwide, WannaCry made headlines around the world by taking down such important institutions as the UK’s National Health System. If WannaCry was the kind of global cyberattack that caught the world’s attention, there are signs that it could set a precedent for what’s to come.

The end of the 1980s, specifically 1989, saw what is considered the first ransomware. It was a program with quite primitive characteristics that was distributed maliciously by means of the old diskettes. Its first appearance resulted in a wave of extortion threats during the early 2000s. However, it did not get the general public’s attention until CryptoLocker appeared in 2013.

Most ransomware falls into one of two categories. Some ransomware viruses prevent user access to their device, freezing the CPU, taking control of the user verification system, or by other similar method. Other types of ransomware, commonly known as crypto-ransomware (encryption ransomware), encrypt storage drives and their contents, making it impossible to open folders and files or run programs.

As of 2013, file encryption began to gain prominence. CryptoLocker is one of the pioneers in ransomware and it appeared specifically in the month of September of the mentioned year. Files were encrypted under robust 2048-bit RSA encryption algorithms. These criminals gave the victims a supposed period of three days to pay the ransom with Bitcoin or prepaid card recharge services.

Today, the focus that criminals take advantage of are the vulnerabilities of the networks to gain access to them and even generate backdoors to have practically complete control of the networks that are victims. Another detail to consider is that attacking only an organization of a certain caliber and reputation can easily generate thousands of dollars in damages that translate into profits for cybercriminals.

Unfortunately, this is a day-to-day problem and you must have sufficient preparation, knowledge and attention to the tendencies of this type of attack. It is extremely important that organizations place a premium on the security of their network systems. If this does not occur, there could be cases of data theft or worse, data leakage that could trigger many other attacks.

More reads:
Tox is a tool used to create ransomware
FiveHands is the new Ransomware Variant

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