Would Ransomware take over 2022?

It has been said that the reward for hard work is more work. Other cogent reverse effects should be considered in the coming year 2022 as technology advances daily and the light of blockchain technology, cryptocurrency, NFT, and its spectrum beams more.

While a great quadrant of the Baby boomer generation has never been anything close to entirely sinking up the new technologies to their daily lives, some new converts from the millennials on the other hand suddenly have reserved thoughts on amassing wealth from the digital space, only for one to lose out from Cyber-attacks in the name of Cryptovirology. 

Is this a worthy chase, should we have reasons to be scared, is this something new in the place of the invention or should we stick to the analogue mode of business for our safety in the year 2022? 

These amongst other fears would be addressed in today’s article on Ransomware, as we consider what the future holds for it in the year 2022. 

If you are looking for the best option for bringing the right visitors to your site by developing a site with SEO, updates, fantastic usability, and accessibility best practices in place from the beginning, Mobile app development, and Website design Dubai, then The Watchtower is the place to be.

Ransomware is malicious software that infects a computer and prevents users from accessing it until a ransom is paid. This act has been seen for some time, and on a daily, ransomware versions have been discovered, with the same aim to extort money from victims by showing an on-screen alert. 

When a prospective prey is identified, the predator implores the use of ransomware which could either lock the system in a way that is easy to undo for a trained user, however, a more powerful virus employs a tactic known as cryptoviral extortion. 

Wikipedia best describes Cryptovirology as a field that studies how to use cryptography to design powerful malicious software. The field was born with the observation that public-key cryptography can be used to break the symmetry between what an antivirus analyst sees regarding malware and what the attacker sees.  

Cryptoviral extortion is a process that simply encrypts the victim's data, rendering them unavailable, and demands a ransom to unlock them. What this implies is that file recovery without the decryption key in a properly implemented cryptoviral extortion attack is an intractable problem – and therefore difficult to trace digital currencies like Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies that are used for ransoms, making tracing and prosecuting the perpetrators extremely difficult, if not impossible. 

The attacker creates a key pair and encrypts the malware with the appropriate public key. The malware has been made public. 

The virus produces a random symmetric key and encrypts the victim's data with it before launching the cryptoviral extortion assault. It encrypts the symmetric key using the malware's public key. The outcome is a little asymmetric ciphertext as well as the symmetric ciphertext of the victim's data, which is known as hybrid encryption.

To prevent recovery, it zeroes both the symmetric key and the plaintext data. It displays a message to the user that contains the asymmetric ciphertext as well as instructions on how to pay the ransom. The attacker receives the asymmetric ciphertext and e-money from the victim. 

 The attacker gets the remuneration, uses his private key to decrypt the asymmetric ciphertext, and provides the symmetric key to the victim. With the help of the victim, the encrypted data is deciphered. 

1. Well, almost impossible; however, with updated and potent anti-virus you decrease the chances of intrusion. 

2. Also, users must desist from clicking on supposed links [phishing links] that they are uncertain of. 

3. Users must be conscious of peripherals on their devices at all times. USB [Universal Serial Bus], keyloggers, and the likes are a good avenue of possible intrusion. 

4. One must also be observant, and in case there is an abnormality, disconnect or raise alarm to your tech personnel immediately. 

Ransomware will do its bit; you ensure you do your bit as advised.

Having read through, I know you might wonder if blockchain technology is worth the whole hurdle, going by the adverse effect. Here is my response: A ship is safe in the harbour, but that is not what ships are designed for.

The Watchtower - Web Design Agency Dubai has provided you with this article.