Ransomware: A CyberScoop Special Report

If cyberspace were a playing field, then ransomware hackers would be running up the score. The notion of hacking using digital extortion as a means of making money entered the public consciousness in 2016, when attackers held a California hospital hostage until administrators agreed to pay the equivalent of more than $3 million in bitcoin. Since then, a generation of scammers have relied on ransomware to demand payouts from Fortune 500 firms, medical facilities, government targets like towns and schools, as well as a diverse set of small and medium sized businesses. As security personnel in the public and private sectors work to improve their defenses about a growing number of malware strains, the U.S. federal government is taking multiple approaches to try to fend off hackers. Congressional lawmakers, for instance, are gathering information about ransomware as part of a larger movement to understand and mitigate emerging risks online, while […]