Ransomware is a type of malware which encrypts the victim’s files and then demands payment to decrypt it. Ransomware is becoming an increasingly common issue for people due to its ability to make criminals money so easily. When ransomware succeeds in getting onto a system, upon execution it encrypts the data on that computer and any connected drives (thereby making that data completely unusable) and then demands a payment to be made for its decryption. Ransomware payments are usually requested in Bitcoin (or some other cryptocoin), due to Bitcoin’s anonymity. People who have valuable data, and who have no backup of the data, are likely to be prepared to pay to get that data back.
Last updated: 2 September 2017