Here's a rundown of the innovative ransomware that frightened users and earned attackers big bucks this year.

Sara Peters, Senior Editor

December 22, 2015

5 Slides

It's been a banner year for ransomware operators...and a nerve-wracking one for anybody responsible for securing endpoints. 

Although some of the malware may issue empty threats, some of it has proven just as nasty as it claims. Researchers found that 30 percent of organizations admitted they'd pay ransom requests, and even multiple police departments have succumbed to them, when nobody was able to recover their encrypted files or their back-ups.

In 2015 ransomware operators were innovative not only with their code but with their business models - and estimates of their returns on investment indicate that business is booming.

Here's a quick rundown of the new ransomware that hit the scene in 2015.

About the Author(s)

Sara Peters

Senior Editor

Sara Peters is Senior Editor at Dark Reading and formerly the editor-in-chief of Enterprise Efficiency. Prior that she was senior editor for the Computer Security Institute, writing and speaking about virtualization, identity management, cybersecurity law, and a myriad of other topics. She authored the 2009 CSI Computer Crime and Security Survey and founded the CSI Working Group on Web Security Research Law -- a collaborative project that investigated the dichotomy between laws regulating software vulnerability disclosure and those regulating Web vulnerability disclosure.


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