PopCorn Time ransomware is on the rise says report

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A recently published report in New York Times claims that popcorn time ransomware which is a kind of Ponzi scheme based cyber attack is on the rise at an alarming rate this year. Technically speaking, the said new Ransomware is a kind of pyramid style cyber attack where people trap each other to get out of ransomware trouble.

A report compiled by F-secure says that criminals have raked in roughly $1 billion from ransomware attacks in 2016. And the number is said to multiply twice this year.

Mikko Hypponen, the Chief Research Officer at F-secure- Finland said that Popcorn Time ransomware is on the rise due to two main factors. Firstly it is easily available ransomware which can be used be used by anyone. Means hackers need not be technically sound to launch a cyber attack of the said sort. Secondly, the malware is available as a service. Means, any web user can buy this malware from a store on the dark web.

F-secure also discovered other notable ransomware schemes on the rise in this year. This includes a new ransomware attack which mainly infects internet connected TVs such as Smart televisions by displaying a fake FBI logo on the screen as a warning and demanding $500 to unlock it.

The report of F-secure confirms that WannaCry Ransomware attack launched on May 12th, 2017 was a disaster as it became too public, too visible and it made almost no money.

Mr. Hypponen said that the developers/hackers of WannaCry ransomware hardly earned $100,000 after launching the cyber attack on more than 200,000 computers across the globe. And all this proves one point that WannaCry was a victim of its own success.
More details from the report will be updated shortly

Note- PopCorn time Ransomware is a kind of malware which first infects and locks a machine from access and asks its user to either pay $2500 worth of currency in bitcoins to unlock the PC or launch a similar attack. If the attack yields the results as per the expectation of the hacker/developer, then he will return a decryption key to the user who was infected at first. So, this type of ransomware attack can be treated as a cyber attack with cannibal instinct, where one victim helps in infecting another victim with malware in order to get rid of Popcorn time ransomware from their computer.

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Naveen Goud is a writer at Cybersecurity Insiders covering topics such as Mergers & Acquisitions, Startups, Cyber Attacks, Cloud Security and Mobile Security

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