To understand how to best protect yourself, it’s often helpful to know the root of the issue and why ransomware is a successful approach for attackers.

How We Got Here

If there is one thing we've seen over and over, it’s that cyber criminals run their operations like a business:

A) They work on their craft — cyber crime — full time. (This is a prime reason, by the way, that it’s hard for organizations to catch up let alone get one step ahead. Cyber security just doesn’t get the same time or attention.)

B) Ultimately, they have to figure out how to monetize their efforts.

Phishing has been a lucrative delivery method for malicious links and software, and the path from phish to profit has gone something like this:

Step 1: Send an email with malware to a target

Step 2: Malware infects the target's PC

Step 3: <Monetizing effort here>

Step 4: Profit!

Historically, Step 3 has been the hardest — and longest — part of the plan. Sure, more sophisticated operations can take a foothold in a single email account and turn it into a big-time payday. But this can be time consuming; let’s just say it’s a long conversion cycle. Every business loves to land the whale, but you need minnows to keep you going day to day, right? CryptoWall made quick-hit monetization a possibility — and a very real threat.

Read more on the Security Info Watch website...