A COMPREHENSIVE OVERVIEW OF RANSOMWARE METHODOLOGY

Abstract

Among the various different types of malware, Ransomware is one such malicious software which affects the target system by locking it through encryption. It is one of the most dangerous attacks which corrupts the data, encrypts it, and also steals the information from the victim computer, rendering the files on the computer useless, unless the encryption key is provided.  Depending on the type of ransomware, either individual files or even the entire operating system might get encrypted. Ransomware has been a prominent threat to enterprises, government agencies as well as individuals over the last couple of decades. Any platform can be a likely target of a ransomware attack. In this paper, we have conducted a brief analysis on ransomware, the various families of ransomware, measures that should be taken to prevent ransomware attacks and so on. By means of this paper, we endeavour to create an awareness regarding ransomware attacks and means to accurately detect a ransomware threat.