Pay Us or Else

October 9, 2019

American City & County

Ransomware is malware that blocks access to a system, device, or file until a ransom is paid. Once it infects a computer, the ransomware encrypts files on the infected system, although some variants erase files or block access to the system using other methods, according to materials from the Center for Internet Security (CIS).
The Center’s Chief Technical Officer, Brian Calkin, says, ransomware in layman’s terms is actually pretty simple to think about. “It’s a virus that’s on your computer and what it does is in the background, unbeknownst to the user, it encrypts all your files – typically things like your word documents and your photos and your music – all of those things that are not easily recoverable.”