Give Us What We Want and No Computer Gets Hurt - A Quick Guide to Ransomware by Amy Stokes-Waters

Ransomware has been around longer than you may think, with the first examples being trojan viruses created as early as 1989. And although it didn’t really take off until 2013, with CryptoLocker, this method of exploitation has grown exponentially in recent years, with experts predicting that there will be a ransomware attack every 11 seconds by 2021. Here we’ll explore what ransomware is, what the risks are and how you can protect yourself and your organisation. What’s the Deal?   Most people understand the general concept of ransomware and the clue is in the name – essentially attackers use malware to infect a device and demand a payment, or ransom, to remove the virus. There are two main types of ransomware – locker and crypto. Locker blocks users from logging into the machine at all – i.e. it locks them out – and doesn’t usually involve any data encryption. The user is asked to pay a ransom to unlock their device and once....