Ransomware has been one of the leading cyber threats of the last three years at least. The numbers strongly establish the placement of ransomware as one of the biggest cyber threat to businesses and individual users. According to statistics from the last year, nearly 70% of companies suffered ransomware attacks. The majority of attacked companies dealt with the attack through professional ransomware removal expertise, but there were also few that resorted to pay ransom to get back their data.
As we are heading into 2019, it will be fitting to have a look at some of the scariest ransomware strains of the last two years.
WannaCry
WannaCry is undoubtedly the scariest ransomware of the past two years. In the mid-2017, the attack simultaneously affected users in more than 100 countries. The strain used some vulnerabilities in the Windows operating system to infiltrate the targeted devices. WannaCry operators usually ask extortion in between $300 and $600 to provide the ransomware removal decrypter.
NotPetya
Just a couple of months after the devastations of WannaCry, the cyberspace again suffered from a far-reaching ransomware strain called NotPetya. This ransomware strain also affected thousands of users in different countries. NotPetya developers used leaked NSA exploit kits and other credential-skimming tools to make their attacks more lethal.
Bad Rabbit
Bad Rabbit is another cryptovirological calamity that happened after mass attacks of WannaCry and NotPetya. This ransomware primarily targeted users in countries of Eastern Europe. Bad rabbit ransomware used compromised websites to drop the cryptovirological payload.
Locky
Locky is one of the most successful ransomware strains. It continues to reemerge on the cyber horizon through new variants. The distribution method of Locky is quite simple. Its operators use spam emails with infected attachments to target users. It is believed that millions of dollars have been ripped off by Locky operators in the name of ransomware removal.
