Cyberattacks, especially ransomware are a tough nut to crack. Traditional malware have gone down the drain. Organizations and institutions are now facing zero-day attacks as well as the increasingly sophisticated malware that are termed as ‘polymorphic’. This set of malware has the ability to modify itself on a continuous basis. This is a difficult proposition because ransomware removal analysts state that the standard anti-malware and anti-ransomware tools are judged on their static tendencies.
Antonio Challita who is the director of product management at CyberSight, an IT security intelligence firm, provided some insights to the ransomware removal reporters. Mr. Challita noted the growing number of RaaS (Ransomware-as-a-Service) campaigns in the recent years. Mr. Challita further expressed that the cybercriminals use such services and collaborate to extort money from naive users. In the end, profits are generated for all the stakeholders involved in the cybercrime.
According to ransomware removal experts, RaaS allows non-tech savvy individuals to purchase a ransomware service at extremely low rates and attack any business or individual with weak security infrastructure to gain 10 times the ROI. A share from the extorted ransom is paid to the original creator of the ransomware and thus the industry flourishes as a result.
Mr. Challita also highlighted the emergence of cryptocurrencies that link with the success of many ransomware campaigns. Mr. Challita explained that as the cryptocurrency boom shook the world, cybercriminals realized its applications for nefarious purposes. He singled out Monero and DASH as cryptocurrencies that are hot favorites of cybercriminals as they provide the required privacy through which a cybercriminal group can evade law enforcement agencies.
Moreover, with the whole premise of cryptocurrencies centered as the replacement of banks and elimination of the central authorities, cybercriminals find its peer-to-peer payment mechanism well-suited for their objectives.
