5 Most Dangerous Strains of Ransomware, Based on How Profitable They Are for the Bad Guys

There are all kinds of threats out there that can make things difficult for your business, but one of the biggest threats from this past year was ransomware. Ransomware encrypts data on the victim’s device so that it is inaccessible without the decryption key. Hackers have been successful with these extortion methods, as well as many others, yet ransomware continues to be a serious source of anxiety for businesses of all sizes and industries.

Ransomware has proven to be an exceptionally lucrative venture for cybercriminals. Normally the businesses might try to restore a data backup when challenged by ransomware, but some ransomware abusers are using double-extortion methods to leak data online and further threaten businesses that refuse to pay the ransom. The threat of data leaking online is already cause for concern, but when fines from data privacy laws are also added into the equation, suddenly paying the ransom might seem like an attractive option.

Here are some of the most profitable ransomware organizations, in the form of Bitcoin, as provided by TechRepublic.

• Conti: $12.7 million
• REvil/Sodinokibi: $12.1 million
• Darkside: $4.6 million
• RagnarLocker: $4.5 million
• MountLocker: $4.2 million

Many of these ransomware names might seem familiar, and that's because they have been in the headlines over the past several months. These ransomware attacks are both high-profile and highly profitable, which is a dangerous and volatile combination for any business facing them. You might also notice that these strains are also considered ransomware-as-a-service, a model in which hackers pay the developers of ransomware to unleash their threats on unsuspecting victims.

If your business suffers a ransomware infection, you should never pay the ransom without first contacting a cybersecurity professional. It might be tempting to just do it, especially in the face of a double-extortion scheme, but you should still do this, just in case it’s actually a false-positive attack, or a fake ransomware attack. In general, it’s better if you prevent infections in the first place through proactive security planning and monitoring.

Ultimately, in the end, you must be prepared to tackle any problems that hackers throw at you. It might be scary and overwhelming at times, but you cannot let these challenges prevent you from making the correct calls. If you let ransomware dictate your every move, you will find yourself at odds with your business’ mission, which is to deliver its goods and services to your clients in an effective manner, whatever they happen to be. Security solutions will help you go about your day-to-day operations with the confidence you need to take on all manners of threats. To learn more, reach out to us at (603) 499-4400.