THE TRUTH

There’s nothing new about ransomware. It dates back at least to 1989, when the AIDS trojan started spreading across the globe. Today, more than three decades later, ransomware is identified as one of the most dangerous cybersecurity threats facing businesses of any size. But is that really the case? With any such threat, forewarned is forearmed, and it’s important to understand just how dangerous and prevalent ransomware is, what its impact could be and how you can protect yourself.

The evolution of a cyber-threat

The AIDS trojan seems quaint now. This floppy disk-based virus locked up the contents of your hard drive, then invited you to post a cheque or money order for $189 to an address in Panama to have it decrypted. The idea was ingenious, but the virus used simple symmetric cryptography, and it wasn’t long before helpful souls started sharing free decryption tools.

Things have changed since then. 2006 saw the emergence of the GPcode trojan, which used a very strong 660-bit RSA key – later upgraded to an effectively uncrackable 1,024-bit one. By 2013, CryptoLocker 2.0 was not only using 2,048-bit encryption but asking for payment in Bitcoin.

Then, on 12 May 2017, the stakes were raised again. Using a Windows exploit developed by the US National Security Agency (NSA), a ransomware worm called WannaCry infected a quarter of a million machines