Cyber extortion is a growing and rapidly evolving risk.
One of the more insidious forms of cyber extortion — so-called ransomware attacks — are on the rise. The FBI estimates that the first quarter of 2016 saw businesses and individuals pay $209 million to hackers to unfreeze files (compared with $25 million for all of 2015).
|What is ransomware?
Ransomware is malicious software that encrypts a victim's data or system so they cannot gain access to it on their computers, and then offers to unlock it in exchange for payment. Often, these attacks enter an organization's computer system via an unwitting employee. Increasingly, sophisticated attackers gain access to systems remotely.
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