Ransomware: taking businesses hostage

Cybercrime has its fashions. As technologies evolve and defences improve, so hackers and cyber-criminals modify their methods of attack. We're currently seeing a burgeoning in the use of ransomware, the digital form of blackmail in which your computer is effectively taken hostage. And both the nature of the chief targets and the ways in which they are being attacked are changing quickly as criminals spot new opportunities for extorting money. Europol recently declared ransomware to be the biggest cyber-threat facing European businesses and citizens. Both the nature of the chief targets and the ways in which they are being attacked are changing quickly as criminals spot new opportunities for extorting money. A large proportion of organisations have been affected at some time, with cyber-criminals apparently turning their attentions to those that are most vulnerable, such as hospitals. The ransomware itself is evolving too, and while some of it is poorly executed, the most advanced strains show great sophistication. Steve Mansfield-Devine explores the nature of the threat and how businesses should respond.