the computer world out there always has a battle between good and evil. while the forces of good try to keep crackers and malware at bay, the forces of evil always come up with something more evil than before, something more unstoppable and harder to break. ransomware is a special type of malware, but unlike other malware that only acts as thieves to steal your data, or dacoits that delete your data, this malware is smart. it acts as a hijacker and keeps your system kidnapped until you pay a ransom, some money, to free your system back.

Ransomware is a kind of intelligent malware, but unlike other malware that just corrupts, deletes files or does some other suspicious behavior, this malware locks your system, files and apps and demands money from you to get back them. I said intelligent because this malware directly helps the attacker make money. other types of malware, such as viruses, trojan horses, etc, only destroy the system or steal some sensitive data, but rarely result in any financial benefit to the attacker (unless the malware steals some sensitive information such as credit card numbers, etc). image via pcworld.com

initially, the ransomware was largely popular in Russia, infecting thousands of computer systems and spreading like wildfire. this type of malware is more difficult to detect, as they can come as harmless little programs attached to software freely available on the interwebs. most of them can enter your system via files with already infected systems, email attachments or from pre-existing malware.

once the ransomware has found its host, it starts attacking by locking user access to files, folders, system settings or apps. When the user tries to open these files and programs, the user receives a message that they have been blocked and cannot be opened unless the user agrees to pay an amount. usually there is also a way to contact the attackers who may be sitting in some other part of the world, directly taking control of your system.