Ransomware became deadly in 2020.

Healthcare facilities were attacked at an alarming rate, including one incident in Germany that lead to a patient death when an attack locked critical systems and a woman needing critical care was turned away. She died after she had to be taken to another city for treatment. 

Ransomware is now one of the fastest-growing threats in cybersecurity, with damages predicted to cost $20 billion globally by 2021, up from $354 million in 2015.

But if you work in infosec, you probably knew that. We’re not here to tell you ransomware is a problem. But we are here to examine what security teams are doing to defend against it, and what techniques are emerging as best bets to mitigate ransomware.

Frankly, the current landscape isn’t great, according to Azeem Aleem of technology services firm NTT Ltd. Ransomware attacks are more aggressive and diversified than ever before – and they use multiple attack vectors. There is an entire industry now dedicated to selling ransomware on the black market (ransomware as a service), which lowers the barrier for criminals to enter, and means more attackers are getting into this very profitable business. Read On: