Ransomware made headlines throughout 2021 and continued to make news in 2022. You may have heard of ransomware attacks on giant corporations, organizations, and government institutions, or you may have experienced one on your device. Having your files and data held hostage until you pay a ransom is a severe and terrifying concern. If you want to understand more about this threat, continue reading to discover ransomware’s various forms, how you get it, where it originates, who it targets, and eventually, what you can do to defend yourself.
What exactly is ransomware?
Ransomware definition
Ransomware is a sort of malware that prohibits users from accessing their system or personal files and demands a ransom payment to recover access. While some may believe “a virus locked my computer,” ransomware is usually categorized as a distinct type of malware from viruses. In the late 1980s, the first ransomware variants were devised, and payment was to be transmitted via snail mail. Today, ransomware writers demand payment by money transferred or credit card, and attackers target various types of individuals, businesses, and organizations. Ransomware-as-a-Service, often known as RaaS, is a service some ransomware creators offer to other cybercriminals.
Ransomware attacks
How can a threat actor flawlessly execute a ransomware attack? They must initially get access to a device or network. They can use the necessary malware to encrypt or lock up your device and data if they have access. There are numerous methods by which ransomware can infect a computer.
How do I get ransomware?
Malspam
To acquire access, some threat actors use spam, sending an email with a malicious attachment to as many recipients as possible, watching to see who opens the file, and, so to speak, “taking the bait.” Malicious spam, often known as malspam, is an unsolicited email used to distribute malware. The email may contain malicious attachments, such as PDF or Word files. There may also be links to dangerous websites.
Malvertising
Are another prevalent infection technique. Malvertising, often known as harmful advertising, uses web advertisements to deliver malware with minimal user input. Users can be routed to malicious servers when browsing the Internet, even on reputable sites, without ever clicking on an advertisement. These servers collect information about victim machines and their locations and select the most appropriate malware to distribute. This malware is frequently ransomware. Malvertising often employs an infected iframe or an invisible web element to accomplish its goals. The iframe redirects to an exploit landing page, from which exploit kit-based malicious programs infect the machine. This occurs without the user’s knowledge, which is why it is commonly known as a drive-by download.
Spear phishing
Is a more focused method for launching a ransomware assault. Spear phishing would consist of sending emails to employees of a specific organization, saying that the CEO is requesting that you complete a vital employee survey or that the HR department is mandating that you download and study a new policy. The phrase “whaling” describes strategies that target high-level decision-makers within a business, such as the CEO and other executives.
Social engineering
Malspam, malvertising, and spear phishing frequently contain social engineering features. By masquerading as a trustworthy institution or a friend, threat actors may utilize social engineering to deceive individuals into opening attachments or clicking on links. In other sorts of ransomware attacks, cybercriminals use social engineering, such as acting as the FBI, to intimidate people into paying a ransom to unlock their files. A further example of social engineering is when a threat actor gathers information from your public social media profiles about your interests, places you frequently visit, job, etc., and uses some of that information to send you a message that looks familiar to you in the hopes that you’ll click before you realize it’s not legitimate.
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How do I defend myself against ransomware?
Experts believe that the best approach to guard against ransomware is to prevent it from occurring initially. While there are methods to combat a ransomware outbreak, they need to be revised and frequently require far more technical expertise than the ordinary computer user possesses. So, here is what we propose individuals do to avoid the consequences of ransomware attacks.
Investing in excellent cybersecurity—a tool with real-time protection designed to fight advanced malware attacks such as ransomware—is the first step in prevention. It would help if you were also looking for features that insulate susceptible programs from threats (anti-exploit technology) and prevent ransomware from encrypting files (an anti-ransomware component).
Next, you must regularly create secure data backups, as unpleasant as they may be. We advise using cloud storage with solid encryption and several authentication factors. You can, however, purchase USBs or an external hard drive to save new or updated files; be sure to physically separate the devices from your computer after backing up, lest they become infected with it.
Then, ensure that all of your systems and software are current. We understand that keeping up with updates for the ever-growing number of software and applications you use daily can be challenging. We advise that you change your settings to enable automatic updates.
Lastly, remain informed. Social engineering is one of the most popular ways computers are attacked with ransomware. Educate yourself (and your staff, if you own a business) on identifying malspam, strange websites, and other forms of fraud. And above all things, exercise common sense. If anything appears suspicious, it likely is.
Conclusion
A ransomware attack is a dangerous type of malware that locks a user’s computer by encrypting the data using different encryption methods and then asking for a ransom to unlock the computer or restore the encrypted files.
As it grows and spreads to more business areas, security teams need to be more aware of its threat. By taking the right steps at the right time to stop, find, and recover from a ransomware attack without causing real damage to the system, the damage that the attack could do can be greatly reduced.