What’s Ransomware? A Hack That Means Your Money or Your Data

That email promising an all-expenses paid trip to Aruba probably isn’t what it looks like. Many of the suspicious emails that tempt recipients into downloading files, like supposed vacation offers or “urgent” security warnings, include malicious files that hackers use to break into computer networks. That can open the way for a ransomware attack — a kind of hack in which thieves demand a payment, usually in cryptocurrency, in exchange for unlocking the target’s data. When security experts do manage to thwart the cybercriminals, someone usually comes up with a new way to breach their defenses.

Ransomware refers to the type of software code that hackers use to encrypt victims’ computer files. The tactic, thought to date back to the time of floppy-disks, has transformed the cybercriminal underworld, which previously focused on the theft of potentially valuable information such as credit card numbers.