Ransomware part II

Imagine that you are starting your day’s work, sitting down in front of your computer, and at that moment a threat appears demanding money in exchange for not leaking your personal data and keys. Do not panic, but you have just been a victim of ransomware.

Ransomware is a type of malware that prevents users from accessing their system or personal files and requires the payment of a ransom in order to regain access. This sounds new but in truth there have been victims of ransomware since the late 80s, at that time you had to pay by mail. Currently, ransomware hackers ask that the payment be with cryptocurrencies or cards.

Perhaps the most frequent manner of infection is through malicious spam, and unsolicited messages that are used to send malware by mail. This can include infected attachments such as PDFs or Word docs. They also arrive as links to malicious websites.

Malspam (Malicious Spam) sophisticatedly tricks people into opening attachments or clicking on links that look real, pretending to come from real recipients or someone close to them. All this is thanks to the social engineering that is used in the attacks.

One method that has also existed for years is malicious advertising. As the name implies, it consists of the use of online advertising to distribute malware automatically almost immediately. Some appear even on legitimate sites. Users reach criminal servers without needing to click on an ad. These servers classify the details of the victims together with their locations and the most suitable malware is selected and sent to them (ransomware mostly).