Ransomware which can be considered as the biggest cyber threats to the digital world is said to have exploded in the past couple of years. All thanks to the anonymous usage of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin.
In a recent study conducted by Intel Security, the said malware is said to have exploded by 3500 percent from fourth quarter of 2015 to the third quarter of 2016.
This clearly suggests that cyber crooks might have found something conducive in the past couple of years to perpetuate ransomware in the cyber world.
As per Chris Young, the CEO of Intel Security, a lot of favorable conditions have made the hackers earn smart from ransomware in recent times. This includes the usage of cryptocurrencies like bitcoin which are hard to track by the law enforcement agencies.
Generally, hackers use ransomware to remotely lock the access of data to the admin and applications. They unlock it when a ransom is paid to them in the form of cryptocurrency like bitcoins.
NOTE- Bitcoins are a digital currency which does not have a physical form and a centralized governance to rule all those who are using them. As this currency form is hard to track, cyber criminals are using them as money resources.
Chris Young concludes that weaponization of data will prove as a next persistent threat to the entire digital world if in case, we do not find a way to hack the bitcoins anonymity. He added that every month a new attack surface as the number of devices that we use in our daily lives is growing well beyond smartphones and computers. And as IoT evolves in next few years, the said malware can act as a stepping stone to larger, more threatening attacks.
If we search on Google for media reports, we can easily find one or two confirming that hackers are using bitcoins anonymity to earn their living from ransomware.
Thus, all this boils down to prove one point either pay to the hackers to regain access to your data or let it go to face serious consequences.
