We are starting a blog series where we will discuss different fundamental information about the cyber threat of ransomware. The purpose of this new blog thread is to educate and inform all those individuals who are new to the cyber world and not well-acquainted with different threats lingering in that space, particularly ransomware.
Let’s kick off the series by discussing different types of ransomwares used by cybercriminals to rip off the victims.
Crypto or Locker Ransomware
Crypto or Locker is the most frequently used ransomware. This malware code is developed to lock down the data on the affected device through encryption. The operators of such attacks demand money to provide a key for unlocking the encrypted files. Some of its variants also lock down the system applications.
For the past two to three years, crypto ransomware has been the most fearsome cyber threat faced by the organizations and individuals worldwide. You can measure the extent of crypto ransomware’s destruction by the fact that one of its strains has affected users in more than 150 countries.
Scareware
As the name suggests, this ransomware is heavily relied on scare tactics to coerce the victims for ransom payment. The underlying code of this ransomware is quite different from the traditional ransomware, which is written by the principles of cryptovirology. In scareware attacks, usually a ransom note pops on the desktop of the affected user that alleges severe offences on him and asks for ‘penalty’ to avoid legal percussions.
The operators of such attacks mention locale address and the name of the ISP to make their ransom note look more authentic. Even false allegations of horrendous acts (e.g. watching child pornography) forces many victims to pay the attackers instead of contacting the authorities.
Pseudo Ransomware
Pesudo ransomware is a malware that doesn’t employ any encryption module to lock down the files on the affected device. Instead, it deletes the files from the computer straight away and makes some fake files and folders to trick the victims into believing that they can get back their data after the payment of ransom. However, the attackers vanish after the payment of ransom and the victim loses their data forever.
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