Ransomware Epidemic Series

Put yourself in this picture: Your organization has a pretty good handle on data security. You have a secure firewall and good anti-malware software running on your systems. You monitor network traffic for suspicious activity. You’ve trained your staff in good cyber hygiene, and reviewed your business partner contracts to make sure they’re doing their part to protect sensitive data. It’s “patch Tuesday,” your automated scripts are installing the latest security updates to your software, and you’re feeling pretty good until a staff member calls and reports problems accessing a data file. The next thing you know, ransom messages start popping up on user screens all over the company demanding payment to access their own data. Suddenly, you can’t control the digital information that is the lifeblood of your business, operations grind to a halt, and you have to make some hard decisions.

If you haven’t experienced ransomware yet, it’s probably just a matter of time. For cyber criminals, it’s an almost-perfect crime. For organizations and individuals, it’s their worst nightmare, and it’s just getting started.

This series of articles looks at the epidemic of ransomware: what is it, how does it get into your systems, and what you can do about it.

Series Overview

Data racketeering: When ransomware holds your business hostage
This article introduces how ransomware infiltrates organizations, locks critical data, and extorts payment—often in Bitcoin—highlighting its rapid rise, high‑profit criminal ecosystem, and widespread impact across sectors.
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The ransomware epidemic explained
This article explains the scale and evolution of the ransomware epidemic, detailing major ransomware “strains,” how they infect systems, and why organizations must understand attack vectors to strengthen cyber hygiene and defenses.
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Death, taxes and ransomware
This article examines why ransomware attacks are nearly inevitable—driven by strong criminal motives, easy access to attack tools, and abundant delivery opportunities—while outlining practical prevention and mitigation strategies organizations can apply to limit damage.
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Bitcoin's strategic place in ransomware
This article analyzes why Bitcoin is the preferred currency for ransomware payments, emphasizing the challenges organizations face when acquiring and using bitcoins, the unregulated nature of the currency, and the risks involved in ransom transactions.
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