A Survey on Impact of Ransomware, Evolution and Prevention Techniques

Abstract: In the current era of technology, there has been an exponential increase in the cyber-attack. One of the most dangerous attacks in this cyber-attack is the ransomware attack which not only corrupt and encrypts the data but also steals the information from the system. Ransomware is a way of money extortion by cyber-attackers in which user’s files are encrypted and the decryption key is held by the attackers until a ransom amount is received from the victim. It is a highly advanced malware. The cyber-attackers behind the development of ransomware are constantly improving their attacking strategy by improving the malwares constantly. This is making it harder to develop effective long-lasting countermeasures to prevent such attacks. . In this paper, discuss the origin, evolution, and prevention techniques of ransomware. The various families of ransomware, their attacks, and prevention from these attacks have been presented.  

Keywords: Ransomware, Static, Dynamic, Information Security.