Ransomware Attacks and Data Security

This report explores the increase in ransomware attacks and analyzes the security of data. It discusses different types of ransomware attacks and provides insights into preventive measures. The report emphasizes the need for individuals and businesses to prioritize data security.

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Table of Contents
Introduction..........................................................................................................................2
1. Ransomware Attacks.......................................................................................................2
1.1. How secure is our Data.............................................................................................3
1.2. The Situation.............................................................................................................4
1.2.1. Wanna Cry Ransomware Attack.......................................................................4
1.2.2. NotPeyta Attack.................................................................................................5
1.2.3. SimpleLocker Attack.........................................................................................5
1.2.4. TeslaCrypt..........................................................................................................5
1.2.5. SamSam.............................................................................................................6
1.2.6. Ryuk...................................................................................................................6
2. Analysis...........................................................................................................................6
Conclusion...........................................................................................................................8
References............................................................................................................................9

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Introduction
Ransom malware or ransomware is a type of malware that prevents a user from having an
access to their own systems or the personal files. It is a form of a malicious software that take
control of the personal devices by entering into a system, disguising as a legitimate file. Over the
past few years, there have been an increase in the ransomware attacks all over the world. It is
dangerous type of malware that blocks the legitimate access to the files of the devices by
encrypting all the files within the device (Yaqoob et al. 2017). The files are not decrypted until
the user pays a ransom to the criminals or the attackers. Some examples of the ransomware
include the wannaCry ransomware, the cryptoLocker, NotPeyta, Bad Rabbit and others. The
increase in the ransomware attack over the years raises questions regarding data safety (Everett
2016). It is quite integral to analyze, how safe is our data right now and the preventive measures
that can be undertaken to address those issues. The report will draw upon a number of examples
on the ransomware attack for the last five years to analyze the needs of incorporation of data
safety within the organizational network. The report will be discussing the effects of the
ransomware attacks to discuss the individual data safety.
1. Ransomware Attacks
Ransomware attacks are generally designed for extorting money from the victims. In this
type of attack, the victims are blocked and prevented from assessing the data from their system,
until they are paying the ransom as asked by the cybercriminals (Scaife et al. 2016). There are
mainly two types of ransomware, which include the encryptors and the screen lockers. The
payment of the ransomware is mainly in form of cryptocurrency. The victim install malware on
the computer systems whose all data is locked till the ransom is paid. After payment of the

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ransom, the attackers provide the decryption key to unlock the data. However, it is often seen
that the victims are not receiving the key even if the ransom is paid (Pope 2016). Thus,
ransomware attacks are considered to be a serious issues that is concerned with the safety and the
confidentiality of the data stored.
One of most prominent examples of a serious and widespread ransomware attacks is
wanna cry ransomware attack. This ransomware attack spread widely through a large number of
computer networks in May 2017 (Mohurle and Patil 2017). This attack had affected a number of
computer systems worldwide. The attacks were laid on the systems that were running on the
order version of the windows operating system. The wannaCry ransomware spread rapidly to a
number of computer networks affecting a dozen of countries globally. The attack was worth
mentioning as it affected a number of high profile systems, which include the National Health
Service of Britain, the United States national security Agency and others (Chen and Bridges
2017). This raising a by concern and questions the security of the data of the individuals or the
business that are being stored within the personal devices or the devices in the organization.
If the data of all those high profile systems can be hacked, the data safety from
ransomware becomes a serious concern (Kshetri and Voas 2017). In the following section of the
report, the security of the data from ransomware attack is analyzed.
1.1. How secure is our Data
The increase in the ransomware attacks raises a big question on the data security. The
concern has increase as although, originally the ransomware attacks were mostly focused on the
personal computers, in the recent times, the ransomware attacks seem to target the business users
as well. The shift is the target of the ransomware is mostly because by targeting the business

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users, more ransom can be fetched. Thus, neither the data of the individuals nor business data is
actually secure if the risk of the ransomware is not considered or addressed.
The ransomware is infused in the system by a malicious email. If a user opens such
attachment without knowing the actual intention of the same, the malware is infused in the
system. From the time, this malware gets installed in the system, it starts encrypting all the files
and displays a message about the ransom that the attackers need from the users (Chen and
Bridges 2017). This is the working principle and the principle of the ransomware attack.
Therefore, it can be said that security of data from the ransomware attacks is a serious concern.
1.2. The Situation
The insecurity of the personal as well as the business data from the ransomware attack
increases mainly because of the increase in the ransomware attacks in the recent years. The
examples of some major ransomware attack that proves that our data is not secure is indicted as
follows-
1.2.1. Wanna Cry Ransomware Attack
This ransomware attack is by far the most dangerous ransomware attack of all times as it
was able to compromise even the most secure systems across the globe including the National
Health Service of Britain and National Health Service Agency of United States. The Wannacry
ransomware infected the computer system in form of a dropper containing a self-contained
program (Kalita 2017). That program consists of an application that encrypts and decrypts a data,
the files containing the keys of encryption, and a copy of tor. It is found out that the attack vector
of the WannaCry ransomware is more interesting than the ransomware (Kao and Hsiao 2018).
This particular ransomware attack was designed in a smart manner by targeting the vulnerability

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of the windows operating system (Furnell and Emm 2017). The vulnerabilities of the older
version of the windows operating system was exploited by wanna cry ransomware.
1.2.2. NotPeyta Attack
The Notpeyta ransomware attack was dated back to 2016 and similar to wannacry
ransomware attack, this attack rapidly spread across the globe. The NotPeyta malware resembles
the ransomware Peyta in a number of ways (Fayi 2018). The NotPeyta has been named as per the
ransomware Petya. It infected certain major computer systems and encrypted certain data on it.
The entire operations and the style of asking ransom is quite similar to that of wannacry
ransomware. Both Notpeyta and wannacry ransomware attack indicates that the data of the
individual is not secure and addressing the same becomes necessary.
1.2.3. SimpleLocker Attack
This is ne android based ransomware that was identified in the Eastern Europe. This
ransomware began to spread in 2015, and is the first android based attacks. In this attack, the
files of the system were made inaccessible by encrypting the files. It is one of the first known
ransomware that is being delivered by a malicious payload (Mansfield-Devine 2017). The attack
by the SimpleLocker ransomware indicate that the data in the android platform is not secure
either. This particular attack is a proof that the files saved in the android devices are not safe
either.
1.2.4. TeslaCrypt
The TeslaCrpt ransomware attack is another similar ransomware attack, that targeted the
files and the data related to the video games, saved games and other downloadable content. THE

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Teslacrypt targeted the games and the files that were stored in the local drive of the computer,
which cannot be restored without the help of the attacker (Lika et al. 2018). The TeslaCrypt
therefore is quite similar to the WannaCry and Notpeyta ransomware attack that at first lock all
the data in the system and further asks for ransom to unlock the data.
1.2.5. SamSam
SamSam is a ransomware attack that made use of a software. This ransomware started
operating in late 2015. It is a software that aimed in looking for specific vulnerability and the
weakness, to escalate the privileges. This ransomware attack was however, not widespread.
1.2.6. Ryuk
Ryuk is another targeted ransomware attack that has chosen its victims from the
organization that has little tolerance of downtime. The ransomware Ryuk, had the capability of
disabling the windows restore options of the computers that were infected and made it difficualt
to restore the encrypted data (Hoverd 2018). The ransom demands in this particular ransomware
attack was quite high in comparison to the wannacry or NotPeyta ransomware attack.
Furthermore, the attackers targeted the holiday season of Christmas. The RYuk source was
mainly derived from Hermes. Hermes is a product of North Korea’s Lazarus group.
2. Analysis
The ransomware attacks that are discussed in the section above indicate that the
ransomware attack has increased over the years, although there has been no notable increase in
the ransomware attack in the year 2018 and 2019. The different types of ransomware attacks are
found to be specific towards a particular target and is run or implemented by the sophisticated

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controllers (Mitchell 2018). The ransomware attacks are being laid and controlled in real time
and therefore the data security risks increases as well. The ransomware attacks are a threat to the
security and the privacy of data. Our personal data is not secure as proved by the series of similar
ransomware attack that took place in the last few years. One of the most prominent issues related
to the data security lined with ransomware is that the attack vector can spread through simple
emails. The graph of the recent attacks indicate that targeted attacks general have a much higher
rate of success. The security of our data is questionable considering all the cases of ransomware
attacks in the last few years. The most prominent one being the WannaCry ransomware attack
that had spread quite easily across the globe.
The sophistication of the Peyta ransomware attack is seen in the WannaCry ransomware
attacks and also in the subsequent ransomware attacks. Thus, there lies a big question regarding
the safety and security of the data. Data breaches and the ransomware attacks are unfortunate
events that has certain negative consequences (Scaife et al. 2016). The data security is hard to be
guaranteed mainly because of the increase in sophistication of the attacks that are being carried
out by the criminals. However, the security of the data largely depends on the users as well. The
WannaCry ransomware attack could have been eliminated if proper security was considered in
the windows system. The ransomware mainly targeted the system that were running in an older
version of the OS (Hoverd 2018). If proper firewall and antivirus protection were installed in the
computers, this widespread ransomware attack could have been prevented (Chen and Bridges
2017). Therefore, it can be indicated that the security of the data is dependent on the individuals
and on the businesses as well. The security of the personal data can be improved only if users are
keen enough to understand the major risk linked with the security of the digital devices, the data
and the files.

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One interesting and most useful preventive measure related to any sorts of ransomware
attack is denial of payment of ransom to the users (Kolodenker et al. 2017). Paying a ransom
motivates the cybercriminal in designing and implementation of the similar kinds of attacks
(Chen and Bridges 2017). In order to ascertain that the security of the data is maintained, it is
quite essential to understand the data security risks, the risks of storing any data online and risks
of connecting internet to a device that is not protected by firewall or antivirus (Hoverd 2018).
The users need to have an idea of the phishing emails that constitutes the main source of the
ransomware attack. In this digital era, the security of the data cannot be confirmed unless the
users are keen on implementing effective control on the data and the security of a particular
system along with the files stored in the system.
Conclusion
The report involves a detailed description of the various types of ransomware attacks that
have occurred in the past five years, to discuss about the security of our data. It is necessary to
analyze how secure is our data and therefore, it is necessary to analyze the security of the data. It
can be concluded that the data security can be achieved if the users are able to need and the
process of enforcing security of their personal data and the business data. It is the only process
by which data security can be ascertained.

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References
Chen, Q. and Bridges, R.A., 2017, December. Automated behavioral analysis of malware: A
case study of wannacry ransomware. In 2017 16th IEEE International Conference on
Machine Learning and Applications (ICMLA) (pp. 454-460). IEEE.
Everett, C., 2016. Ransomware: to pay or not to pay?. Computer Fraud & Security, 2016(4),
pp.8-12.
Fayi, S.Y.A., 2018. What Petya/NotPetya ransomware is and what its remidiations are.
In Information Technology-New Generations (pp. 93-100). Springer, Cham.
Furnell, S. and Emm, D., 2017. The ABC of ransomware protection. Computer Fraud &
Security, 2017(10), pp.5-11.
Hoverd, W., 2018. Technological Threat Attribution, Trust and Confidence, and the
Contestability of National Security Policy.
Kalita, E., 2017. WannaCry Ransomware Attack: Protect Yourself from WannaCry Ransomware
Cyber Risk and Cyber War.
Kao, D.Y. and Hsiao, S.C., 2018, February. The dynamic analysis of WannaCry ransomware.
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Computer and Communications Security (pp. 599-611). ACM.

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Kshetri, N. and Voas, J., 2017. Do crypto-currencies fuel ransomware?. IT professional, 19(5),
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Lika, R.A., Murugiah, D., Brohi, S.N. and Ramasamy, D., 2018, July. NotPetya: Cyber Attack
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