Ransomware

As seen on TV!

Ransom malware, a software that will look for X type of files in a system (the valuable ones) and encrypt them with a very strong password, usually using asymmetric keys, to then load an interface that will ask to pay for a ransom, in some untraceable cryptocurrency, in order to be able to recover the files, that is if they are not lying to you or ransoming you again the next month.

This malware is the bane of corporations, it's happening every day and it's getting more sophisticated every year, there exists whole enterprises gaining fortunes from ransoming, we don't even hear half of it because of fear or retaliation from bad publicity, most companies silently pay and don't even mention they have been pwned. It reached the point where some big ransomware groups are more professional, have better customer service or corporation structure than most of its victims. Ransomware groups are a thrilling world, sometimes leaving Hollywood movies vanilla in comparison and some of them making history and paralyzing the whole world like the infamous Wannacry in 2017, authors are still uncertain but they used an exploit developed by the NSA, exfiltrated by the group The Shadow Brokers, called Eternal Blue, to ransom more than 230.000 systems in 150 different countries, paralyzing hospitals around the world, just to get stopped by a kid in Devon, England. I'll leave a documentary below that if you are new to the cybersecurity world will make you go crazy:

source Tomorrow Unlocked