Types of Ransomware
Ransomware is an attack that publishes the information and data to the third party users. It was identified in Russia in year 2005. This attack is increasing day by day but it is necessary to protect the sensitive data. It enters the system by the means of emails, messages or by some online transactions. This report covers the complete study about ransom war and its impact on the society. Ransom ware is an attack that blocks personal and sensitive data to be accessed by the users. In this report, types of ransom ware along with its mechanism and threats of ransom ware are discussed.
It has impacted the society in a negative way as it hacks all the personal information by encrypting the data and then blocking it for the valid user to access it. Future, it demands for money for restoring the data. They have impacted the society as they breached the confidentiality and integrity of data packets. In year 2007, ransom ware hacked more than thousand computer system[1]. This led to leakage of personal data and loses of various sensitive files. It has turned out to be harmful for organisations, home appliances and have increased security risk and financial problems in the society[2].
There are various forms of ransom ware attacks that are discovered. Some of the attacks are:
- Locker ransom ware
- Crypto ransom ware
- Crypto wall ransom war
- Mac ransom ware
- Cerber ransom ware
The first mentioned ransomware that is locker ransom ware that provides access to unauthorised user of all the PC assets. It destroys the security and privacy of eh personal gadgets and in return requests for cash to re-establish the information. In these attacks, the actual information is locked by the hacker and it does not allow valid user s to access it. The other attacks is crypto ransom ware is used to encode the information and then acquire a decoding key to unlock the information. It stores all the personal data over the web and then uses it for unauthenticated operations. This has eliminated the framework of hacking and has expanded the security framework[3]. One new ransom ware attack that came in the market is Mac ransom ware. It make use of fraud running mac OS so that clients use it to access the information or download the files. This type of attack enters the silently, stay in the system for a duration then encrypt all the personal files when valid users are working upon it. Later, it demands for money to restore the accrual files. The other widely used ransom ware attack is cerber ransom ware, it scrambles up all the information in the computer system. Once the information is scrambled it demands for money from the client to disclose the actual data. It generally comes into action when no humans are involved in the operations. It demands for money from client by sending an email to get their information[3]. The other variant that is discussed over here is, cryto wall ransom ware. It came into existence after cryto locker and it is a kind of payoff that demands for money for decoding the sensitive information. This framework demands ask administrative client to give cash so that they can utilize the administrations information[4].
Impact of Ransomware
Ransom ware is a cyber-attack that is used to hack personal data and information. The ransom ware attacks are increasing day by day as seen in last few years. The working mechanism of ransom ware attacks differ but the steps and procedure they follow are. The most commonly used way is sending spam emails or fraud mails on the server so whenever user reads the email or checks up the spam message their computers gets hit by the ransom ware virus [5]. Once these bugs enter the system they block the access of personal file or encode them so that it is not accessible by the users. In return they contact the computer administrative and demand for money to re-establish their actual file and information. Apart from that, many sources of training sessions are available so that users become ware about the steps that should be taken to secure their system over web [6].
Some of the steps that are followed by ransom ware to hit the system are:
- They make use of software for creating fraud mails or create span messages so that they can hack the personal data or information of the computer
- Ransom are enters the system through the means of emails or spam message, this future encrypts all the sensitive information
- Later ransom ware tries to communicate with the user and demands for money to de-code the information.
The ransom ware attacks are increasing day by day and have violated the privacy and confidentiality of data. These attacks have led to increase in fraud emails and span messages over the web [7]. This is harmful for the gadgets along with the human bodies. This issue have increased the consequences of hacking, degraded the security framework and have increasing the monetary issues. These ransom ware attacks steals up all the passwords and personal information which leads to security breach and lack of confidentiality. It creates a PC framework unsafe to work [7]. The potential threat that exists in the system due to ransom ware is diminishing the security framework by sending fraud mails. It can be loos for an organisation as it breaks the trust among customers [8]. This procedure is exceptionally destructive to human-PC frameworks and furthermore builds human wellbeing dangers.
WannaCry is one of the cyber-attack that targets the operating system of the system and asks for bit coins in return. The issue with this attack is it spread ta fast rate from one PC to other. It provides access to unauthorised users to read all the sensitive data. This attack captured all the sensitive information of health care services [9]. They asked for money to relive the data it penetrated easily from one computer to another. The bugs and errors penetrated in the system by phishing attacks or by encrypting the files so that valid users are not able to access the information. Fake decryption files were used by the hackers so that original files could be claimed easily [10]. This attack violated confidentiality and privacy of data as original health care files were leaked. The attack came into existence on 12th may, 2017 and it influenced more than thousand computers. It is an irresistible attack as it is difficult to find that it is hit the system or not [11]. WannaCry hacked many servers to scramble all the personal and sensitive data and later asked for money to re-establish the original file. This attack generally came into existence by fraud emails and spam messages.
From this report, it was found that ransom ware is one of the serious issues faced these days. Thus, to avoid the security breaches it is recommended to first be aware about all the consequences. There are many tools that could be used to mitigate the risks of ransom ware. The two tools that are discussed over here are robust filtering and backup plan. Backup plan is an effective way to secure the data as in case of failure it helps the files to get recovered easily [12]. The information should be backed up at regular interval so that it can be restored at time of failure. The other way is robust filtering it is a technique that block the way for spam messages and fraud emails to enter the system. Thus, these tools should be used so that confidentiality and privacy of information is maintained
Ransom ware is one of the major issues that attack many PCs to steal the personal information by hacking it and making it inaccessible for the valid users. They block the access and in return demand for money so that they decode the original information. In this report one of eth recent attack that was wannacry was discussed and some of the mitigations ways are identified. This report portrays various types of ransom ware attacks and the procedure that is followed by ransom ware to enter the system is discussed. It was found that mostly ransom ware bugs enter the system by the means of spam messages or fraud emails. Ransom ware attack can be decreased if an individual uses appropriate information reinforcement design like using better filtering ways, distributed computing framework, utilizing a strong sifting procedure, backup plans, disaster recovery plan and designing an access control through which this security hazard can be settled. Additionally, it was found that ransom ware attacks are unpredictable and it is difficult to identify that they have penetrated in the system or not. Thus, in this report types of ransom ware, its working mechanism, threats that are caused due to ransom ware and precautions that need to be taken are discussed.
References
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- M., Mehlman, “How CFOs Can Mitigate the Risk of Ransomware.” Tax Executive, vol. 70, p.92, 2018.
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- A., Zimba, Z. Wang and H., Chen, “Multi-stage crypto ransomware attacks: A new emerging cyber threat to critical infrastructure and industrial control systems.” ICT Express, vol. 4, no. 1, pp.14-18, 2018.
- M., Wolf, “Strategies against being taken hostage by ransomware.” ATZelektronik worldwide, 13(2), 44-47, 2018.
- R. Clarke& T. Youngstein, (2017). Cyberattack on Britain’s National Health Service—a wake-up call for modern medicine. The New England journal of medicine, 377(5), 409-411.
- Y. Jin, Y. Wu, Z. Zeng, C. Jin, S. Wu, Y. Wang, & Fu, (2016). From the cover: Exposure to oral antibiotics induces gut microbiota dysbiosis associated with lipid metabolism dysfunction and low-grade inflammation in mice. Toxicological Sciences, 154(1), 140-152.
- H. S. Lallie, K. Debattista & J. Bal, (2018). An Empirical Evaluation of the Effectiveness of Attack Graphs and Fault Trees in Cyber-Attack Perception. IEEE Transactions on Information Forensics and Security, 13(5), 1110-1122
- J.Y., Zhao, E.G., Kessler, J., Yu, K., Jalal, C.A., Cooper, J.J., Brewer, S.D. Schwaitzberg and W.A., Guo, “Impact of trauma hospital ransomware attack on surgical residency training.” Journal of Surgical Research, 232, 389-397, 2018.
- T. Mattei, (2017). Privacy, Confidentiality, and Security of Health Care Information: Lessons from the Recent WannaCry Cyberattack. World neurosurgery, 104, 972-974.
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