Annual ransomware-induced costs are projected to exceed $265 billion by 2031, according to Cybersecurity Ventures. This is a very successful criminal business model. Some major strains are WannaCry, GandCrab, Phobos and Cerber. Techniques the cybercriminals are using are constantly evolving to get past traditional defenses. New strains and variants come and go as new cyber mafias muscle into the 'business'. Next, when a user wants to access one of these files they are blocked, and the system admin who gets alerted by the user finds two files in the directory that indicate the files are taken ransom, and how to pay the ransom to decrypt the files. Once the malware is on the machine, it starts to encrypt all data files it can find on the machine itself and on any network shares the PC has access to. It typically gets installed on a user’s workstation (PC or Mac) using a social engineering attack where the user gets tricked in clicking on a phishing link or opening an attachment. September 2013 is when ransomware went pro. Ransomware attacks cause downtime, data loss, possible intellectual property theft, and in certain industries an attack is considered a data breach. Ransomware is defined as vicious malware that locks users out of their devices or blocks access to files until a sum of money or ransom is paid.

Average corporate crypto locker