Cyber Defense eMagazine June 2020 Edition

The Ransomware Age and How to Fight It
By Pedro Tavares, Editor-in-Chief seguranca-informatica.pt
We are living in an age where ransomware continues to grow and the number of attacks has increased
especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. Data encryption malware is an emergent threat evolving and
changing its Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures (TTPs) along the time.
In general, data encryption malware so-called ransomware is a type of malware that prevents victims
from accessing their systems and demands ransom payments in order to regain access to the data. The
affected systems include network assets, servers, backups, personal data, and so on.
In early ransomware versions - the 1980s, the ransom paid was paid via snail mail. Today the schema
evolves an order sent via cryptocurrency (bitcoin) and credit card.
These kinds of attacks generally start via email, with social engineering campaigns in place, namely
malspam, malvertising and phishing schemas sent to a huge group of users every day.
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