Evolution Of Ransomware: Part I

Introduction On Ransomware

• Malware means malicious software. A program intended to do malicious activities in the system.
• Malware is a collective term for virus, trojan, backdoor, rootkits, ransomware.
• Ransomware is very popular type of malware, also a scareware.
• This malware restrict user to access the system and asking ransom to remove the restriction.
• Restricting methods are changing and it will noted as ransomware variants.
• Possibility of recovery from ransomware infection is very low.

Delivery Methods

Ransomware can infect your computer in the same way as most other malware. Some of the most common ways your computer can become infected with ransomware are:

• Drive-by download: This is the most common way for ransomware to get into your computer. All it takes is for you to visit a malicious or compromised website, click on a malicious advertisement/link, or open a malicious attachment for your computer to be infected.
• Exploiting program vulnerability: Just like any other malicious program, ransomware can exploit security vulnerabilities on your computer's operating system or in a program (such as a web browser) that has been installed on your computer.

Ransomware Variants

As mentioned above, there are many variants of ransomware out there, but it can be loosely classified into four categories:

• SMS Ransomware

This type of ransomware locks your computer and displays a ransom message with a code.To unlock your computer, you are instructed to send the code via text message to a premium-rate SMS number to receive the corresponding code to unlock it. Image shows: The lock screen instructs victims to send a code (4121800286) to 3649 (which is a premium-rate SMS number) in order to receive the Windows activation code.

(continued in next post...)