What Came First, Bitcoin or Ransomware?
In a ransomware attack, it is assumed that the hackers prefer the ransom being paid in bitcoin due to the anonymous nature of its transactions. It might not be true as the hackers are probably interested in bitcoin for entirely different reasons. Bitcoin and Ransomware, these words appear more frequently in a single sentence these days than we wish for. Ransomware attacks have become a common occurrence these days. We had earlier reported the use of Advertising network by cyber criminals to propagate ransomware to the computers belonging to the readers of some of the leading news websites.....
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Over the course of 2015, many individuals and companies have been affected by ransomware. While this may have nothing to do with Bitcoin at first glance, there have been a few cases where the ransomware could only be removed by paying a certain fee in Bitcoin. But those days may be over now, as a decryption toolkit for various types of ransomware has been made publicly available, free of charge. CryptoLocker and CoinVault Ransomware. Two types of ransomware making headlines all across the world in recent months are called CryptoLocker and CoinVault. Both types of ransomware operate, in the....
The new GoldenEye ransomware poses as a resume to infect computers belonging to HR departments. James Bond, the fictional spy, has met his match when it comes to deception. A new ransomware named after one of the Bond movies, GoldenEye infects work computers by posing as a job application. According to cybersecurity researchers, the GoldenEye ransomware is a variant of previously known Petya ransomware. The ransomware targets the HR departments of the companies as they receive hundreds if not thousands of emails from unknown people applying for job positions. A well-crafted mail delivers....
In fact, 1% of attacks saw a demand of US$150,000 to be paid in Bitcoin. Ransomware developers are always one step ahead of security researchers these days. Not only in the way their software works, but also how they target potential victims. American businesses are seeing an influx in ransomware attacks all of a sudden. More particularly, company executives are a prime target for ransom are right now. While nearly nine in ten ransomware attacks are targeting hospitals these days, corporations are not out of the woods just yet. A new study unveiled how 40% of businesses investigated had....
A new report by two cybersecurity firms has revealed that one ransomware family is particularly successful, raking in over $150 million in bitcoin. The ransom payments “sometimes amount to millions of dollars and typically run in the hundreds of thousands range.” Ransomware Makes $150 Million in Bitcoin The Ryuk ransomware family has raked in $150 million in bitcoin, according to a joint report by cybersecurity firms Advanced Intel and Hyas. “The Ryuk family of ransomware has been particularly successful in economic terms as well as having a disruptive impact on many....
Up to this point, there have been two main reasons people decide to use bitcoin— either for censorship-resistant payments or as a store of value. However, in 2016, a new application for the use of Bitcoin as a censorship-resistant payment system, ransomware, experienced immense growth. According to some industry watchers the core issue with ransomware....